Sunday, January 30 2005 10:22 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: Polls opened early today (Jan 30, 2005) in Iraq's first free elections in a half-century. The country's president was one of the first to cast his vote.

Holding an Iraqi flag after he dropped two ballots into boxes, Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawher called the election his country's first step "towards joining the free world.''

"I'm very proud and happy this morning,'' al-Yawher told reporters after he voted in the heavily fortified Green Zone. "I congratulate all the Iraqi people and call them to vote for Iraq.''

At other polling stations across the country, voters began filtering into the schools and other buildings serving as polling stations, as poll workers checked their identifications.

As poll workers watched, al-Yawher went through the voting process that thousands will follow nationwide, having his identification checked, then marking two separate ballots.

As poll workers watched, he marked two ballots and then dropped them into boxes at the front of a room.

A poll worker handed him an Iraqi flag as he turned away from the boxes.