Under a blanket of tight security designed to thwart insurgent attacks, Iraqis are voting in parliamentary elections, the second for a full term of parliament since the 2003 US-led invasion seven years, and the first since the start of the US troop pullout from the country.
Despite the airtight security the insurgents have still managed to kill at least 25 people in Baghdad and in other parts of the country, unleashing a barrage of mortars on government buildings and residential areas intent on disrupting the historic day. The authorities earlier cancelled all bus and truck traffic, but the insurgents have already taken their toll of military and civilian lives.
Even though some pro-American local politicians describe the situation in Iraq as "fragile stability", genuine peace appears nowhere in sight with the run-up to Sunday's vote marred by growing political tensions and ever-intensifying power struggle between the rival Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions.
Meanwhile, there are more than 20 candidates from a bevy of secular and religious parties vying for each of the 325 seats in the new parliament, which many observers fear could make the new legislature even more politically diverse than ever and put the formation of a coalition government on an indefinite hold. Which, in turn, would reflect very badly on the overall security situation in the country.
Almost 20 million Iraqis are eligible to vote for who will lead the country after US forces pull out, in an election that will determine whether Iraq can overcome the jagged sectarian divisions that have defined it since the US-led invasion seven years ago.
In Moscow, international security expert Vladimir Sotnikov says that, compared to the 2005 election, today's voting is taking place against a more stable political backcloth.
"Despite their badly flawed decision to invade Iraq in 200r, the Americans seem to have managed to stabilize the situation there... Even better, the new Iraqi government is getting increasingly independent in what they do to keep the situation in check", Vladimir said.
The expert expects the new Iraqi legislature and the new Cabinet to be less dependent on their Western allies, above all the Americans whose President Barack Obama has already put a definitive time frame on the US military pullout from Iraq.
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