Iraqis Voting In Crucial Election

The voting is under way today in Iraq for a new parliament -- the second such vote for a four-year legislature since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's regime.

Some 6,200 candidates from more than 80 political entities are competing for the 325 seats in the Council Of Representatives. Some 19 million people are eligible to vote.

News agencies quote an Interior Ministry official as saying at least 12 people were killed and eight others injured in bomb attack in Baghdad after polling booths opened this morning.

Thousands of Iraqi troops and police, backed by U.S. troops, have been deployed across Iraq's 18 provinces in a bid to protect against bombings or other attacks by militants trying to disrupt the elections.

Voters are choosing between mainly Shi'ite Islamist parties that have dominated Iraqi politics since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, and parties offering a more secular stance.

Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is seeking reelection to a second four-year term as head of his State Of Law Coalition.

The vote is being held less than six months before the United States has pledged to withdraw its combat forces from Iraq.

with agency reports