High Sunni Turnout Marks Peaceful Day at Iraq Polls ; Leaders Buoyed, but Challenge of Creating Coalition Looms

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BAGHDAD, Iraq - A man wrapped in the Iraqi flag. Women in black veils. Sheiks in white headdresses. Families in their best clothes, children in tow. All stood in line for the right to choose a Parliament and participate in one of the freest elections ever in the Arab world.

At first, turnout was but a trickle. As the day wore on, it turned into a procession. Up to 11 million of the nation's 15 million registered voters took part, officials estimated, which if true would put overall turnout at more than 70 percent.

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High Sunni Turnout Marks Peaceful Day at Iraq Polls ; Leaders Buoyed, but Challenge of Creating Coalition Looms

So many Sunni Arabs voted that ballots ran out in some places. The strong participation by Sunnis, the backbone of the insurgency, bolstered U.S. hopes that the election could produce a broad-based government capable of ending the daily suicide attacks and other violence that have ravaged the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

D...

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