SteevAK

Fantastic news so far from Iraq concerning the elections (emphasis mine):

Undeterred by scattered violence, Iraqis voted in overwhelming numbers in an election on Thursday, with minority Sunni Arabs who boycotted the last poll determined not to miss out on power again.

Turnout in 10 hours of voting was at least 10 million, or 67 percent, Election Commission chief Hussein Hendawi told Reuters, much higher than the 58 percent who voted in the previous election on January 30.

The demand to vote was so strong that polling stations were kept open an extra hour to allow those waiting in line to cast ballots. In Saddam Hussein’s home province more than 80 percent of voters turned out, an electoral official said.

The largely peaceful vote, which will raise U.S. hopes that a stable government can pave the way for American troops to eventually pull out of Iraq, was in sharp contrast to January’s election for an interim assembly, when 40 people died.

Turn out in Fallujah is 70%. Results are expected in two weeks. Phenomenal.