Turkey sends observers to Iraq elections, early voting begins

Turkish observers, consisting of 26 academicians, researchers and representatives of think-tanks, will monitor elections together with nearly 1,000 foreign observers in Iraq, the Anatolian Agency reported.

About 614,000 police, soldiers, hospital patients and prisoners are entitled to vote at 1,672 established polling centers that opened at 7:00 a.m. (0400 GMT) and will close at 5:00 p.m.

The early voting is taking place ahead of Saturday's main ballot in an effort to avoid the security, logistical and electoral fraud problems that emerged in the elections four years ago, when all eligible Iraqis had to vote on the same day.

"At seven in the morning voting began that included army, police, patients and detainees," Hassan al-Waeli, chief of the electoral commission in Diwaniyah province told AFP.

"There were around 20,000 voters at 12 of our polling centers," he said.

The elections are seen by Washington and Baghdad as a crucial step in securing stability in the face of simmering unrest as U.S. troops prepare to accelerate their plan to withdraw from Iraq by 2011.

With the help of the United Nations, Iraq is holding the elections in 14 of its 18 provinces. Some 15 million citizens are being called to the polls to elect officials for 440 seats.

Iraq's provincial councils are responsible for nominating governors who lead the administration, finance and reconstruction projects in their areas, while security forces remain under Baghdad’s control.

Elections in the regional Kurdish administration, which includes three provinces, are expected to take place this year, but no date has yet been set.

Voting in the oil-producing, ethnically mixed province of Kirkuk, an ancient city that was once part of the Ottoman Empire, was delayed over disputes between Kurds, who want to fold it into their northern region, and Arabs and Turkmen who want to keep it under Baghdad's control. No date has been set for voting in this city.