FALLUJAH — Iraqis in two Sunni-dominated provinces voted Thursday in provincial elections marked by tight security that left streets in former insurgent strongholds largely deserted for much of the day. The country is confronting its worst outbreak of violence in years and relations between Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites remain fraught. The two provinces where the voting was taking place — Anbar and Ninevah — have seen some of the largest rallies in a months-long wave of Sunni protests against the Shiite-led government. Authorities imposed a vehicle ban in major cities in the two provinces to protect against car bombings as voting got underway for candidates who will serve on provincial-level councils. Thousands of policemen and soldiers were deployed to secure the vote. In Fallujah, 65 km west of the Iraqi capital, security forces sealed off the city with checkpoints that prevented cars from getting in. Streets in the morning were empty except for ambulances, police and army vehicles, and a small number of cars permitted by electoral authorities. Voters trickling into polling centers were searched twice before being allowed in. Police offered some voters rides to the polls in pickup tricks, as did political parties using minibuses emblazoned with pictures of candidates. Fallujah voter Fuad Enad Mohammed, 26, said he wanted to see change for his Sunni sect in Anbar. “With these elections, we will try to bring officials better than the ones in the previous council who didn't offer anything and were not real defenders of Sunnis,” he said. Local authorities eventually lifted the vehicle bans in the afternoon, apparently to encourage people to head to the voting centers by car instead of walking under the scorching sun. Iraqis voted in 12 of Iraq's 18 provinces two months ago. Officials had delayed elections in Anbar and Ninevah because of what they said were security concerns, though some Iraqis questioned that rationale and dismissed it as a political ploy related to the unrest in the provinces. Some 2.8 million Iraqis are eligible to vote in more than 1,200 polling centers the two provinces. That figure includes nearly 100,000 members of the security forces, many of whom voted in special elections on Monday so they could be on hand to secure the balloting. Hundreds of candidates from 28 political blocs in Ninevah and 16 in Anbar are hoping to secure seats. There are 39 seats up for grabs in Ninevah and 30 in Anbar. Among the groups hoping for a strong showing are Sunni parliament speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi's United bloc, Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Al-Mutlaq's Arab Iraqiya coalition and the secular but Sunni-dominated Iraqiya bloc headed by Shiite politician Ayad Allawi.— AP
