At least 38 people are reported to have been killed in the violence on election day, which hit a number of cities including Baghdad, Fallujah, Baquba, and Samarra.
According to the latest toll released by Iraq’s Interior Ministry, 110 people were wounded in the violence.
But RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq correspondent Haidar Rashid, reporting from the Karredeh polling station in Baghdad, said the attacks did not seem to have affected the turnout.
"People are disappointed with the performance of the government, and the last parliament, and this is a major motivation for many people going to vote," Rashid said.
Official figures have not yet been released on the turnout.
An elderly woman in Kut told Radio Free Iraq that voting is her response to the violence that has taken away her son.
"I'm voting today because I lost my son. This is my compensation. I may have lost my son, but I have not lost my vote," she said.
Baghdad Attack
The worst violence took place in Baghdad where 25 people were killed in mortar- and rocket-attacks blamed on insurgents.
The Baghdad security spokesman, Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, was quoted by news agencies as saying that most of the rockets and mortar bombs had been fired from mainly Sunni districts in and around the city.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who cast his vote earlier today in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, described the attacks as "only noise" and added that they will not damage the morale of Iraqis.
"Iraqis have realized the importance of their votes. These votes will have a role in forming the new government and the parliament and will have an effect on the political process. Therefore, I call upon Iraqis to take part and make the right choice," Maliki said.
Shi'ite Maliki is seeking reelection to serve a second four-year term in parliament as head of his State Of Law Coalition.
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 were eligible to vote.
Thousands of Iraqi troops and police, backed by U.S. forces, were deployed across Iraq's 18 provinces in a bid to protect against bombings or other attacks by militants who have vowed to disrupt the vote.
Voters are choosing between mainly Shi'ite Islamist parties that have dominated Iraqi politics since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, and parties offering a more secular stance.
WATCH: Iraqis go to the polls
The vote, being held less than six months before the United States has pledged to withdraw its combat forces from Iraq, is being seen as a key test of both stability and national reconciliation.
Last time Iraqis voted in parliamentary elections in 2005, Sunnis boycotted the polls leading to several years of sectarian violence, which has abated only over the last 18 months.
This time Sunnis were expected to turn out in force at voting centers.
In a rare public appearance, influential Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said at a press conference in Tehran that holding an election under the "shadow of occupation" was illegitimate. Sadr, however, urged Iraqis to vote anyway to pave the way for "liberation" from U.S. forces.
'No Major Fraud So Far'
Local election observers have told Radio Free Iraq correspondents that so far the election has gone according to plan and that no major fraud or irregularities have been reported so far.
In the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan, Christine McNab, the UN secretary-general’s deputy special representative, hailed the voting as smooth and well-organized.
"So far, I have been to four polling centers, that’s about 16 stations. It was very quiet at 7 o'clock when they opened. But everything was prepared very well. Every station we have seen, they've had observers from the political parties and civil society," McNab said.
"Very well organized, very nice atmosphere. Now there are a lot of people coming out to vote, old people, young people, people with their families and children."
Speaking to journalists in Baghdad, Iyad Allawi, a former Iraqi prime minister and head of the Iraqiya list, said that at least “12 violations” had been recorded.
Polls opened today at 7 a.m. Iraqi time and closed at 5 p.m. as scheduled.
News agencies are reporting that Hamdiyah al-Husseini, a senior official with the Independent High Election Commission (IHEC), told state television that the polls closed on time, but said no one who was waiting to vote would be turned away.
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