Voters in Kurdistan in northern Iraq go to the polls on Saturday in a double election, to choose a new parliament and a president for their autonomous region.
The elections have been the most vibrant and exciting since 1992, when the Kurds held their first-ever free polls after winning de facto autonomy.
That first election saw a massive turnout, with huge crowds of Kurds besieging the polling stations until after midnight, thrilled by the novelty of choosing their own leaders by ballot.
Tags: middle east, south asia