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Voting ended Saturday evening for Iraqi provincial elections and the mood was festive in some places, unlike the violence, intimidation and apathy that marked the balloting in 2005.
Preliminary results were expected within a week, members of the Electoral Commission said at a news conference Saturday night.
Only two instances of violence were reported.
CNN’s Arwa Damon, who toured polling stations with U.N. observers, said she noticed an increased sense of awareness and optimism among voters, who felt their participation would have an impact on their lives and country. 
Watch Iraqis head to polls »
Political analysts said this election could correct some of the political imbalances that resulted from the 2005 election. Saturday’s voting also was seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
“We are trying to build a new system of government in the heart of the Islamic Middle East,” Saleh said.
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The last provincial elections were in January 2005, after the ousting of Saddam Hussein, and most Sunni Arabs did not vote.
“This time, happening four years after the first elections, means that this process is on track to building a functioning democracy,” Saleh said. “I think the election results will point to the real political map of Iraq.
“The overwhelming majority of the people of Iraq are having a stake in this process, are buying into this democratic process.”
He added that politics “is no longer defined by violence,” and is now transcending “sectarian and ethnic dimensions.”
Voting was extended one hour, partly because a curfew had been lifted, allowing more Iraqis to go to the polls, Judge Qassim al-Aboudi, member of the Electoral Commission, told CNN.
Those elected will have regional power over the essentials Iraqis have been desperate for — basic services and jobs, Damon reported.
She said there was a sense of jubilation Saturday in Anbar province, the Sunni heartland west of Baghdad. The sprawling desert area was dominated largely by al Qaeda in January 2005, when the first provincial elections after the fall of Hussein were held.
In 2005, fearing retribution from the terror group, only about 2 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.
Observers believe the provincial vote will be a gauge of the country’s political direction and a guide to how to the parliamentary elections will turn out later this year.
The results should spell out the status of the Sunni Arab “awakening” movement and the popularity of the Shiite factions, such as those backing al-Maliki, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.
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MAYBE NOW THE IRAQI PEOPLE CAN START PAYING US AMERICAN PEOPLE THEIR MONEY BACK. WE NEED OUR MONEY BACK TO HELP OUR OWN COUNTRY AND SEND SOLDIERS HOME NOW. TIME FOR IRAQI TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR OWN BUSINESS. PAY US BACK OUR MONEY BACK NOW OUR PEOPLE ARE HURTING.