NAJAF —— Hailing the day as a "new birth" in Iraq, residents of the Shiite holy city of Najaf filled polling places across town Sunday to vote in the national and provincial elections that will probably hand Shiites the majority in Iraq's first democratically elected legislature.

With driving banned until Monday, streets normally filled with cars were crowded instead with residents walking to and from the polls or waiting at designated stops for any of the 1,000 buses and minivans hired by the local government to shuttle voters to and from their voting stations.

U.S. Marines, who had planned to saturate the streets with roving patrols, stuck to their base at the edge of town after commanders deemed Najaf safe in the hands of nearly 10,000 Iraqi soldiers and police.

Not a single violent incident was reported at any of Najaf's 240 polling sites.

It was all carried off with proud patience and dignified calm.

Chance for new start

"This is a new birth for Iraqis," said Kasim Kadum Saagban, 45, after he and his wife voted at a crumbling high school Sunday afternoon in Najaf's war-ravaged Old City, just a few blocks from the revered Imam Ali Mosque.

Families walked hand in hand through the traffic-less streets. Children kicked soccer balls around trash-filled medians. Voters were politely checked for weapons outside and quietly strolled into polling sites to make their mark.

"Iraq is changed forever," Saagban said. "And I am very happy in this new democratic process."

Saagban said that under the rule of Saddam Hussein, the choices in the occasional elections in Iraq was Saddam or death. The legitimate variety on this ballot changed all that, he said.

"The best thing about this process is that we are one family," he said, pointing up to a room where his wife and several other black-clad women were casting their votes, "and everyone has their say.

"One of us can like the Islamists, and the other can like Allawi (Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi)," he said. "Now everyone is free to choose."

Women flock to polls

In the Al Askari neighborhood in northern Najaf, one primary school hosted five busy polling sites.

By mid afternoon the long lines of morning had given way to a steady trickle of voters.

Like other polling places, little fanfare accompanied the vote here. Election workers and police chatted quietly and sipped tea as they watched voters move slowly and patiently through the process, helping when they could.

Election worker Ali Fakhur al Din said that while originally one of the sites was designated for women, so many showed up that all five sites had to be opened up to women.

"This is good —— such high numbers of women," Fakhur al Din said as he pointed another young women toward the table where a female election worker checked her identification card against the list of voters registered in that province.

Most women voted in pairs; one who is literate helping another who could not read and write. Fakhur al Din called literacy a "simple right" that he hopes could be restored with democracy.

He pointed to one group of four women, all covered head to toe in black, who all helped each other mark the ballots, fold them, and then giggled as they encouraged each other to dip an index finger in ink and then drop the folded ballots in the plastic bins.

He smiled as if to say, "See?"

Point of no return

Elections officials said the purple inkstain remains for at least 72 hours and helps prevent voters from trying to vote again.

The two bins at each of Najaf's polling stations Sunday were for separate ballots: one for provincial elections and the other to chose Iraq's new legislative assembly, which will write a constitution and select a cabinet.

It was the vote for assembly that gripped the country Sunday, and could continue to keep the country in limbo for about 10 more days as the ballots are counted and certified.

Coalitions of Shiite candidates —— whose posters, radio ads and other propaganda make them household names in Shiite-dominated Southern Iraq —— are expected to win big over Sunni-dominated slates.

Many of the main Sunni parties pulled out of the race, making the probable margin of victory even greater for the Shiites, who make up about 60 percent of Iraq's approximately 26 million people.

U.S. diplomats and military officials here say they worry about the possibility that the vote could be the catalyst for civil war, or that a Shiite-dominated assembly could fracture from internal strife and tear even peaceful cities like Najaf apart.

An exile returns

Even with the future so uncertain, Najaf's residents seemed hopeful and confident Sunday.

The very act of voting seemed to give people a boost.

"I did it! It's overwhelming," said 45-year-old Majid Jeber Jebreen, holding up a purple finger after voting for the first time in Iraq Sunday after spending 25 years in exile in Canada.

"I've voted two or three times in Canada," he said. "But this has a different taste to it."

Jebreen, who is now Najaf's top contracting official who channels U.S. reconstruction funding into local projects, said he and others in the exiled community helped finance and plan the resistance against Saddam Hussein from their adopted homes, always hoping to return to a free Iraq.

While the country is still plagued with problems, including a stubborn insurgency that seems hell-bent on destroying any democratic roots before they take hold, Jebreen said the peaceful conduct of the vote in Najaf on Sunday gives him vote for more troubled parts of the country.

Iraqis secure city

Marine Col. Anthony Haslam, the top Marine commander in Najaf, said he, too, was encouraged by the peaceful election day which some believed would be an opportunity for insurgents to launch terrible attacks against polling places to keep voters away.

"It's happening out there. It's a big day," Haslam said during a break at the Joint Command Center located near the Najaf provincial governor's compound in the center of the city Sunday. The compound buzzed with excitement Sunday as reports from Iraqi security posts indicated a nearly trouble-free day.

Haslam said he toured dozens of Iraqi police and Army checkpoints in the city and outlaying villages on Saturday and was convinced that the Iraqis had their city under control. He stood down his forces, the 2,000 some Marines of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and gave the Iraqis responsibility for his sector.

"We're just standing by, staying out of the way," he said. "It's not our thing; it's their election. And they worked hard for it."

Marines watch from afar

Cpl. Peter Izzo, 20, of New York, who's rifle company was assigned to be the quick reaction force in case a polling place was attacked by a suicide bomber or order broke down in the city, said thankfully that the day was boring.

"We just sat around all day," he said, packing his bags for his trip home in less than two weeks. "It's better that way. Things will start calming down now."

His friend, Lance Cpl. Raymond Thomas, said the day was a "turning point," for Iraq and for Marines like him who participated in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and have now overseen Iraq's first democratic national election two years later.

His company, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, was part of a brutal three-week battle in Najaf's Old City in August. Raymond said they can all go home proud knowing they stuck with the city after the fighting and helped it recover and heal to the point that its residents could pull off a peaceful vote on their own.

"Now they have a taste of freedom," he said, packing for his trip home Sunday. "This is probably the safest place in Iraq, right here. It wasn't easy."

Contact staff writer Darrin Mortenson at dmortenson@nctimes.com.