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age last updated at 07:21 GMT, Saturday, 31 January 2009

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Iraqis vote in landmark elections

Voters had to pass through strict security to cast their ballots Iraqis are electing new provincial councils in the first nationwide vote in four years, with the Sunni minority expected to turn out in strength. Sunnis largely boycotted the last ballot. Correspondents in Baghdad, where there has been a total ban on vehicles, said voting started slowly. The vote is seen as a test of Iraq's stability ahead of the next general election later this year. Security is tight and thousands of observers are monitoring the polls. Up to 15 million Iraqis are eligible to cast votes. "This is a great chance for us, a great day, to be able to vote freely without any pressure or interference," a Baghdad voter identified as Hamid told Reuters news agency. We didn't vote and we saw the result - sectarian violence Khaled al-Azemi Sunni speaking about 2005 boycott In pictures: Iraq's landmark poll Another voter said he had not slept in order to be first at the polling station. "I want this experience to be a success, and that there will no fraud," said Adnan al-Janabi. Security tight The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad said voters had to pass through stringent security checks to reach the polling stations, which were mostly set up in schools. As voting got underway, several mortar rounds landed near polling stations in Tikrit, hometown of late ruler Saddam Hussein, but no casualties were reported. Hundreds of international observers are monitoring the vote, as well as thousands of local observers from the various political parties. At least eight of the 14,000 candidates have been killed in the run up to the election. Three of the candidates - all Sunni Muslims - were killed on Thursday, in Baghdad, Mosul and Diyala province. While the recent level of violence around Iraq is significantly lower than in past years, Iraq's international borders have been shut, traffic bans are in place across Baghdad and major cities, and curfews have been introduced. Hundreds of women, including teachers and civic workers, have also been recruited to help search women voters after a rise in female suicide bombers last year, according to the Associated Press. Iraqi and US military commanders have in recent days warned that al-Qaeda poses a threat to the elections. Setting the stage Sunnis largely boycotted the last ballot, a general election which resulted in Shia and Kurdish parties taking control of parliament. Despite intimidation, many Sunni voters say they will vote this time. PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS Vote could mark Iraq turning point Iraq voices: provincial elections Iraq: Key facts and figures Some, like Khaled al-Azemi, said the boycott last time had been a mistake. "We lost a lot because we didn't vote and we saw the result - sectarian violence" he told the BBC. "That's why we want to vote now to avoid the mistakes of the past." The drawing of alienated Sunnis back into the political arena is one of the big changes these elections will crystallise, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Baghdad. On the Shia side, the results will also be closely watched amid signs that many voters intend to turn away from the big religious factions and towards nationalist or secular ones. If they pass off relatively peacefully, these elections will set the stage for general polls at the end of the year and for further coalition troop withdrawals, our correspondent says. The election is also being seen as a quasi-referendum on the leadership of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. Saturday's elections are being held in 14 of the country's 18 provinces, with more than 14,000 candidates competing for just 440 seats. There is no vote in the three provinces of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of the north and the ballot has been postponed in oil-rich Kirkuk province. Iraq's provincial councils are responsible for nominating the governors who lead the administration and oversee finance and reconstruction projects.