BAGHDAD, Iraq -The manager of a polling station in the Ameriya neighborhood, Raed Jamal, settled down to count the votes as darkness fell after a momentous day in Baghdad.

Gunfire echoed around the streets nearby but he simply shrugged. “The terrorists are too late,” he said. “This city has spoken.”

Mr. Jamal said he had expected four or five people to show up at his polling station. Instead he got 8,500. The turnout confounded predictions of a wholesale boycott of the election in Sunni areas such as Ameriya.

“We’re still surprised by the number of people who have turned up today,” said Mr. Jamal. “It is clear to me that Sunnis as well as Shias want to have a part in this election. We all want to shape the future of our country.”

Ameriya has seen its fair share of fighting in recent months. But, according to Mr. Jamal, more than half the registered voters in his district cast their ballots – less than the 75% turnout in many Shiite areas but impressive when compared to the stay-away seen in insurgent strongholds elsewhere.

There were sporadic exchanges of gunfire in Baghdad and at least seven suicide bombings across the city. But by the bloody standards of recent months, election day was when the voters reclaimed the streets of Baghdad from the gunmen.

Foreign journalists were able to walk freely on streets where they would usually only be able to rush through, disguised, in a car.

The mood of fear and foreboding that has had the city in its grip for months vanished, helped by an unprecedented security operation. All traffic was banned to prevent suicide car bombs and streets were sealed off with barbed wire.

A nagging question now is whether the days of wholesale carnage will return once the security clampdown is lifted.

Yesterday at least, voters made their way to the polling stations on foot, some nervous and others excited.

Most said they were voting to reject the terrorism that has come to dominate their lives.

“The Iraqi people have been silent for too long,” said a minibus driver, Hussein Hadi, 33. “I want to show the terrorists that I am not afraid. This is my country and they must stop destroying it.”

On Abu Nawass Street, one of Baghdad’s main thoroughfares, American helicopters flew overhead, Iraqi policemen at checkpoints confiscated cigarette lighters and pens, and families promenaded down the center of the street on their way to vote.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” said one Iraqi man, smiling, as the sound of an explosion ricocheted off surrounding buildings.

“This is our day, a special day for all Iraqis to savor freedom. But now I must go and vote.”

At polling station no. 6504, in the middle-class Shiite district of Kerrada, the crowds began arriving soon after 7a.m.

The building, a converted school, was surrounded by three cordons of barbed wire and a large hand-drawn poster for the main Shiite list, an indication of who many would be voting for.

Iraqi policemen, most of whom had spent the night at the station, frisked voters as they approached, directing women to a nearby tent.

Safar Hussein, 40, a building worker, stood in a nearby street handing out sweets to voters. He said he had been the first to vote with his family. “I didn’t sleep all night. I just sat watching television waiting for the moment when I could go to vote. It’s been like waiting for a child to be born.”

By 10 a.m., a line had formed at the entrance to the polling station, with men and women in separate lines.

Inside, following directions on a blackboard, voters registered their names. They then took two A3-size voting papers, one for national, the other for district elections, to a booth before putting them in ballot boxes.

Sayada Abid, 65, wept as she recalled how Saddam Hussein’s regime executed her son for praying outside a mosque. “God willing we will now have a proper government running this country and Saddam Hussein will rot in hell,” she said. Outside the room, the polling centre manager and headmaster of the school, Talib Ibrahim, fielded questions from worried voters.

“You see, this election is restoring our pride in being Iraqi,” said Mr. Ibrahim. “This is the first step in one thousand miles towards freedom. We want to send a message that in spite of the violence, in spite of the three wars Saddam put us through, we are an advanced people.”