With the tanks of the New Iraqi Army keeping watch on main roads and local paramilitaries stationed around polling centres, tightly knit Shia neighbourhoods in the Iraqi capital produced a higher than expected voter turnout yesterday.

Insurgent attacks, including eight separate suicide bombings, killed at least 36 people on election day, the Ministry of Interior announced. Yet voters in primarily Shia districts reportedly kept coming out in substantial numbers until the close of the polls at 5pm.