BAGHDAD, May 12 (Xinhua) — Millions of Iraqis headed Saturday to thousands of polling centers across the country to vote for their representatives in the next parliament, for the first time after the full territorial defeat of Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq.
The polls kicked off at 7:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) as people started to cast their votes at ballot boxes across the country, while others queued outside the polling centers.
Iraq's Vice President Nuri al-Maliki was the first top official to cast his vote at a polling center in the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad.
"This is an important day in Iraq's history, and in the history of the political process which was built on the freedom of voting," Maliki told reporters after he cast his vote.
"Election is the only way to give democracy a success, and I call on all the people to choose the proper person, whoever they believe, to be their representative in the coming Council of Representatives (parliament)," Maliki said.
The second top official to cast his vote was the current parliament Speaker Salik al-Jubouri, who told reporters "we are optimistic and we have a hope that Iraqi people would densely participate in the voting process."
"This is the election after security challenges stage. It is the stage of stability, therefore there must a collective contribution that people can express unity," Jubouri said.
At the first minutes after opening a polling center in Salhiyah neighborhood in downtown Baghdad, Kamil Khudir, a middle-aged man, was very happy to be the first who cast his vote hoping to make a difference in their lives after years of chaos, violence and poor governance since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
"I expect the voting can bring better life for our people. Young people are jobless and we need public services. We need everything," Khudir told Xinhua.
The voting process will continue during the day until 6:00 p.m. (1500 GMT).
More than 24 million Iraqis are eligible to vote in up to 8,959 polling centers across Iraq in the first general election since Iraq's historical victory over the IS militants last December.
About 7,000 candidates, representing 205 political entities, will compete for the 329 parliamentary seats to form a new government which will rule Iraq for the next four years.
