BAGHDAD: Polling is underway in Iraq on Saturday for regional elections for the first time since US troops left the country, seen an important measure of support for Iraq’s various political blocs heading into parliamentary elections scheduled for next year.
Voting is taking place amid tight security at more than 5300 polling centers for members of provincial councils who will serve in 12 of Iraq’s 18 governorates.
Iraqi politics are deeply split along sectarian lines with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government mired in crisis over how to share power among Shi’ites, Sunni Muslims and ethnic Kurds who run their own autonomous region in the north.
DND
