A man shows his election ink stained finger after voting in Sinjar, 390 km (240 miles) northwest of Baghdad, January 31, 2009. Iraqis held their most peaceful election since the fall of Saddam Hussein on Saturday, and voting for provincial councils ended without a single major attack reported anywhere in the country. (Erik de Castro/Reuters)
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An Iraqi child wearing a Shiite shirt celebrating the martyr Hussein waits for his father to vote in Baghdad. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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A man drops his ballot into a secure box. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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An Iraqi woman in Baghdad watches a polling station worker guide her ballot into the secure box during the provincial elections on Saturday. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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A husband and wife confer as they vote in the provincial elections in Baghdad on Saturday. With nearly 14,500 candidates from 400 parties competing for 440 seats, many Iraqis had trouble finding their candidate on the ballots. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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An Iraqi soldier directs a voter at the entry check point to a polling station in Karada, a neighborhood in Baghdad on Satrday. At some polling stations in Iraq, voters were searched up to six times to ensure safety. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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Polling station workers help to check in voters in the Adhamiya neighborhood in Baghdad, a predominately Sunni area. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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A child waves a flag in support of the Daawa Party at a rally on Jan. 29. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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A crowd of Daawa supporters at an election rally on Jan. 29. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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Daawa supporters at an election rally on Jan. 29. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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Iraqi security personnel wait in line to vote in the provincial elections. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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A polling station worker holds back a group of Iraqi security personnel waiting to vote. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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An Iraqi policeman registers at a polling station in Karada during a special vote for security forces. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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An Iraqi soldier inks his finger to mark that he has voted. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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An Iraqi soldier looks at the ballot during a special vote for security forces. (Tom A. Peter/GlobalPost)
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An Iraqi woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Kerbala, 50 miles southwest of Baghdad on Jan. 31. Iraqis voted behind barbed wire and rings of police in an election that tested the war-battered country's fragile security gains and which may ease lingering sectarian resentment still fueling violence. (Saad Shalash/Reuters)
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