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Iraq Election 2014: Voters Brave Threats And Head To The Polls (PHOTOS)

PHOTOS: Iraqis Brave Threats And Head To The Polls

Iraqis headed to the polls on Wednesday, braving threats of attacks and suicide bombings to elect a new parliament in the first general vote since the American troop withdrawal.

Security forces took up positions all over the country in an attempt to protect the 22 million eligible voters. The Associated Press reports from the capital, Baghdad:

Baghdad looked like a deserted city, with police and soldiers manning checkpoints roughly 500 meters (yards) apart and pickup trucks mounted with machine-guns roaming streets that were otherwise devoid of the usual traffic jams. Stores were closed, and many voters had to walk for kilometers (miles) to the polls after authorities banned civilian vehicles to prevent car bombs. Others demanded a lift from army or police checkpoints.

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An Iraqi woman and her children display ink-stained fingers after she voted in Baghdad's Sadr City district during the country's general elections on April 30, 2014. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)
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An Iraqi woman displays her ink-stained finger after casting her ballot in Baghdad's Sadr City district during her country's general elections on April 30, 2014. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)
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An Iraqi Kurdish man escorts his mother to a polling station during the country's general elections in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region's second-biggest city, on April 30, 2014. (SHWAN MOHAMMED/AFP/Getty Images)
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Members of Iraq's anti-terrorism force stand guard outside a polling station in the capital Baghdad on April 29, 2014, one day ahead of Iraq's first general election since US troops withdrew. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)
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Iraqi security forces show their ink-stained fingers after casting their ballots at a polling station in the city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, on April 28, 2014, ahead of Iraq's first general elections since US troops withdrew in 2011. (MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP/Getty Images)
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A member of the Kurdish Peshmerga force holds a list of election candidates during special voting for the military ahead of Iraq's upcoming election on April 28, 2014, in the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
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An Iraqi policeman shows his ink-stained finger and his ID after casting his ballot at a school in Baghdad's Karrada commercial district on April 28, 2014. (SABAH ARAR/AFP/Getty Images)
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Members of the Kurdish Peshmerga force show their ink-stained fingers in the northern Kurdish city of Arbil on April 28, 2014, after casting her ballot in special voting ahead of Iraq's first election since US troops withdrew. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

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