Ann Clwyd talking this morning (from Basra) on BBC Five Live Breakfast (as transcribed by me):
I've just come out of a very big polling station where there are queues of people waiting to get in there. Masses of women. I'm amazed at the turnout of women. And inside the polling station there's a sort of air of celebration there. One man said to me, 'It's like a wedding.' Another man said, 'It's like Christmas'. And do you know, there's a general feeling that this is a day of celebration for these people.I think it's going to be a massive turnout here. It was slow to begin with and then it sort of speeded up. There were four explosions here early this morning, mortar explosions, but it doesn't seem to have deterred people. We were amazed as we came down the main street: whole families were out, just strolling in a very leisurely way towards their local polling station; somebody had even brought sweets into this polling station for the voters; there was a big tray of sweets. I'm standing here just at the entrance to it now and I've talked to quite a few of the women and they're very excited because this is their first opportunity to vote; and they keep coming towards us, you know, streaming down the street.
... I think people will be amazed when the turnout is known at the end of the day.
