Baghdad: Under heightened security and the hope for a new beginning in the midst of a bloody insurgency, millions of Iraqis headed to the polls on Thursday to vote for a new parliament in a historic election.
Shortly after the polls opened at 7 am (11 pm ET Tuesday) explosions echoed through sections of Baghdad.
While there were no reports of major violence, some scattered incidents were reported.
Two people were wounded as three mortar rounds landed in Baghdad, one near a polling station, police said.
Turnout in some areas of Baghdad was slow, as some residents were awakened on Tuesday night by police and security forces warning them of a rumor that the water had been poisoned.
Reports reveal that Sunnis ? who were in power under former leader Saddam Hussein, but largely ignored transitional parliamentary elections ? are taking part in this election in greater numbers.
Local Sunni militias are providing security at the 23 area polling stations, because the police force is not up to the challenge yet.
Local clerics have also encouraged residents to vote, making the announcements over mosque sound systems that are normally used for call to prayer.
The election has taken on a festive feel in Sufiya, an eastern Ramadi neighborhood, where candy is being handed out as people come to vote.
Ahead of the ballot, electoral officials on Wednesday said they are on the lookout for big and small election violations, such as illegal campaign practices, the distribution of fake ballots and voter intimidation.
And, they warn, some areas might not have elections because of insurgent violence and military activity.
Security has been beefed up along closed borders and a nighttime curfew is in force.
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Safwat Rashid Sidai, a member of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, said at a news conference he would investigate reports that a number of voting stations failed to open in Yusufiya, southwest of Baghdad.
More than 19 political coalitions and 307 political entities -- either parties or people, are registered to run in the elections for the 275-seat parliament called the Council of Representatives.
Elections will go from 7 am (11 pm EST) to 5 pm (9 a.m. EST), CNN has confirmed.
Two-hundred and thirty seats in the body are allocated by province, with Baghdad province getting the highest number of seats among the 18 provinces at 59.
The remaining 45 parliamentary seats will be allocated in a formula that awards a political entity's national showing.
There are 33,000 polling stations around Iraq. Iraqi officials are urging the 15 million registered voters to go to the polls.
In an address to the nation, Iraqi transitional President Jalal Talabani Wednesday said "I call on you to participate actively" in the election on Thursday.
Iraqi and US officials are hoping that the Sunni Arab turnout will be high, a factor they believe could help deflate the largely Sunni Arab insurgency.
Voting has already been held for security forces, prison detainees, and hospital patients, and Iraqi expatriate polling in 15 countries started on Tuesday.
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