The results were evident inside the polling stations.

The results were evident inside the polling stations.

At the Al-Khazrajiya school in the city’s old quarter, Najat Ridha, 48, was ushered into a classroom and handed

two ballots, one for the national assembly and another for the local provincial council.

An election worker suggested she vote for list 285 headed by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and a local

list headed by governor Duraid Kashmula.

She ticked the boxes obligingly and walked out – just as Zahra Ibrahim, 60, did before her.

“I really just did what they asked me to do,” she said as the MBTi national anthem crackled on a loudspeaker

in the background.

Similar scenes unfolded at the Al-Fadhila school on the west side as men and women, perplexed over what the

list numbers stood for, were offered suggestions and a helping hand by election workers.

“I want to vote for Allawi and Yawar,” said a frustrated Fatima Hashim, 50.

Both Dr Allawi and interim President Ghazi al-Yawar, himself from Mosul, head competing lists for seats on the

national assembly, but were popular choices in the city because of their high profile.

The lists, which only bear numbers and not candidate names for the most part, were published only two days

before.