An estimated 20 percent of overseas Iraqis who registered to vote have cast their ballots in 14 countries on Friday, while violence is escalating in their homeland.

Peter Erben, head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), told a press conference in Amman, Jordan, that the Iraqis showed great enthusiasm toward the poll. Some Iraqis who have the right to vote but were not registered also came to the polling stations, he said.

The first voting day has concluded smoothly without any security, administration or organizational problems, he added.

The IOM organized the three-day vote of overseas Iraqis all over the world. More than 280,000 Iraqi expatriates have registered to vote.

Overseas voting smooth

In Berlin, 80 Iraqis went to the polls within the first hour of voting. Iraqi Ambassador to Germany Alaa Abdul Majid Hussein al-Hashimi was the first to vote, organizers said.

By Sunday, some 26,000 registered voters, 47 percent of all Iraqis in Germany, will have gone to the polling stations in Mannheim, Munich, Cologne and Berlin, according to the Geneva-based IOM.

On Friday, nearly 61,000 expatriate Iraqis started casting ballots in Iran, which has the largest number of Iraqi registered voters.

Polling stations opened in six cities and the voting runs from Friday through Sunday, said the IOM.

"Over the registration period, we have seen a great deal of commitment and enthusiasm form Iraqis in Iran. Many people have traveled considerable distances in order to be able to register," said Kate Pryce, head of the IOM's Out-of-Country Voting (OCV)

Program in Iran.

In Sweden, some 30,000 Iraqis are set to vote, the highest number outside the Middle East.

In Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey, a total of 4,178 registered Iraqi voters had cast their ballots in three polling centers. An estimated 10,000 to 30,000 Iraqi people are currently living in the country.

In Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Iraqis living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also started voting.

Mike Burke, head of the IOM's OCV program in the UAE, earlier told the press that more than 12,581 of about 60,000 to 65,000 eligible Iraqi voters had registered to vote.

Insurgents mounting attacks in Iraq

As overseas Iraqis started casting their ballots, insurgents in Iraq have been mounting attacks in a bid to derail Sunday's national elections.

A US soldier was shot dead in northern Baghdad, and a roadside bomb killed another one and wounded two others in the south of the capital, the US military said.

Later in the day, a roadside bomb killed three US soldiers on a military convoy in a western district of Baghdad, a US army spokesman said.

The US military also said a Kiowa observation helicopter crashed in southwest Baghdad, but there was no immediate information on casualties and on whether the crash was an accident or the result of insurgent attack.

In southern Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near a power station, killing at least six policemen and wounding four others.

The blast took place at a police checkpoint when a suicide bomber tried to ram his explosive-laden vehicle to the Doura power station, police said.

In the western city of Ramadi, six Iraqi soldiers were killed in ambushes, an Iraqi officer said.

Meanwhile, Iraq's interim government said it has arrested two top aides of Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Qassim Dawoud, minister of state for national security, said security forces captured the two earlier this month in Baghdad without giving further details.

The two were "important leading members" of Zarqawi's extremist group, said Dawoud.

Zarqawi has vowed to kill anyone who dares to vote in a poll what he says is designed to bring Iraq's "infidel" Shiite majority to power.

International community expresses confidence in elections

Amid escalating violence and uncertainty, the United Nations calls on Iraqis to vote.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on Iraqis to turn out in large numbers, cautioned insurgents against intimidating voters and pledged the world body's continuing help in the future.

"Elections are the best way to determine any country's future.

Please exercise your democratic rights on Sunday," Annan said. "The United Nations will do whatever it can to help you succeed on election day and afterwards."

In Washington, US President George W. Bush reiterated the importance of the elections, which, he said, will be an example to reforms of the Middle East.

Addressing an official swearing-in of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state, Bush said the elections will be "the first

step in a process that will allow Iraqis to write and pass a constitution that enshrines self-government and the rule of law."

"This history is changing the world because the advent of democracy in Iraq will serve as a powerful example to reformers throughout the entire Middle East."

In Brussels, the European Commission said in a statement that it had proposed a new 200-million-euro (260-million-US dollar) aid package for Iraq.

The aid package is meant to "support the political and economic transition in Iraq," the statement said.

European Union Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the EC's proposal means that the EU will be significant partners for the new Iraqi administration.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said Russia will "respect any choice of the Iraqi people," although the vote will be held under difficult situations, Yakovenko said.

If the Sunday elections are to be declared valid, "this may become an important and necessary stage for returning full sovereignty to Iraq and creating legitimate representative bodies of power there," the spokesman added.

Source: Xinhua