BAGHDAD_Iraqis voted Saturday in elections to determine the country's post-Islamic State future after a four-year war to defeat the jihadist group.
Few surprises were expected in the battle for 329 parliamentary seats. With almost 7,000 candidates, many of them newcomers, it is expected that familiar faces will win. Those political figures have managed _ or mismanaged, some would say _ the country since the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The elections took place in a climate of escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran, countries that have competing interests in Iraq but have forged an uneasy alliance in the fight to roll back the gains of jihadists established four years ago.
Turnout was low in the early hours of voting which began at 7 a.m. local time with tight security and a car curfew launched at midnight Friday.
In the capital, many voters had to walk long distances to reach polling places, while children took advantage of what would normally have been traffic-choked streets to skate, cycle or play soccer.
Before noon, Prime Minister Haider Abadi ordered the curfew lifted in what was thought to be an attempt to encourage more people to vote, but it appeared to have little effect even with 30 minutes before polls closed at 6 p.m.
"We've gotten only about 32 percent of people registered to this center," said Nibras Hmood, the head of a voting center in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah.
It seemed little better elsewhere in the country, and unofficial tallies later by Iraqi news outlets confirmed the lowest voter turnout since 2003, with observers estimating a dismal 25 percent participation rate.
Still, those who made the trek to the polling stations, such as Murtada Sahi, a 22-year-old soldier, insisted on the importance of the vote.
"I voted four years ago and it's true, we didn't see any changes, but perhaps we'll get something this time," he said as he left a voting polling booth set up at the Aqeedah school for girls in the Shiite-dominated Russafah neighborhood of Baghdad. "We woke up to this world with war, and we've seen nothing else since then, but maybe now there will be change."
Mohammad Najem, 52, a taxi driver who had brought his 9-year old son Moussa to the center, agreed.
"There must be change because this is a new phase for building a new Iraq," he said. "The new faces in these lists are people who want to work."
Previous elections had been marred by delays and accusations of fraud.
For this election cycle, authorities instituted a new semi-electronic voting system, with QR-coded sheets and scanners that would automatically tally the votes before transmitting the results via satellite to the Independent High Electoral Commission, the governmental body overseeing the elections.
Yet there were reports of machines breaking down and a number of people unable to vote because of problems with their identification cards. The devices accept the votes of those whose identities are verified using a chip-equipped voting card that is linked to their fingerprints.
There were also reports of attacks by Islamic State jihadis, including two suicide bombers who attacked a voting center the city of Baquba, and then shot by security guards.
Results are expected Monday 48 hours, and then parties will begin dealmaking before a government is formed.
Once in place, the parliament will select the prime minister from the country's Shiite majority.
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(Bulos is a special correspondent.)
