Security was tight for Iraq's national election in troubled areas of the country like Baqubah, a Sunni stronghold. Early Sunday, a brief but fierce firefight broke out, raising an alert. But the day saw no major violence in the area, allowing people to head to ballot boxes.
Some irregularities were reported during the day's voting, ranging from people who claimed they were wrongly left off the voting rolls to a lack of election workers or materials that kept some votes from being cast.
Some of those problems were reported in the northern Kurdish region, where voters cast two ballots Sunday: one for the National Assembly and one for the creation of an independent region Kurdistan. Hear Time magazine's Michael Ware in Baqubah; NPR's Jennifer Ludden; and NPR's Ivan Watson in Erbil.
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