BAGHDAD, Iraq — Final results in Iraq's parliamentary election may not be known for two weeks, but early indications show the Shiite tickets doing well in traditional Shiite strongholds, election officials said today.

In Mosul, capital of the predominantly Sunni Arab province of Nineveh, indications were that the Sunni coalition came in first, said a representative for the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, Hameed Shabaky.

He said the Shiite governing party apparently came in fourth behind the Sunni coalition, the Kurds and a bloc led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite.

Turnout in what was a mostly peaceful election was overwhelming. Election officials estimated up to 11 million of the nation's 15 million registered voters participated in Thursday's vote, which would put overall turnout at more than 70 percent.

IFES, a nonprofit organization that supports building democratic societies, said Thursday's election appeared on track to record more votes than any other parliamentary election in an Arab country.

Preliminary results could be released within a week, but a large number of complaints are expected and they will have to be investigated. That could delay final results by two weeks.

Western officials in Baghdad said they had heard reports of numerous voting irregularities in the north and south, most of them dealing with intimidation. There were no immediate details, but there were believed to have been more irregularities Thursday than in the Oct. 15 referendum and Jan. 30 elections.

In the Shiite province of Najaf, as many as 80 percent of registered voters cast ballots for the four-year parliament.

So many Sunni Arabs voted Thursday that ballots ran out in some places. Election commission spokesman Farid Ayar said officials opened only 167 of the planned 207 election centers in Anbar because of security. Anbar includes Ramadi and Fallujah.

In Fallujah, the former Sunni insurgent bastion seized by U.S. forces in November 2004, 11 of the city's 35 polling stations did not receive ballot boxes, while some sites ran out in the morning, its mayor said, attributing that to the large turnout.

The strong participation by Sunnis, the backbone of the insurgency, bolstered U.S. hopes that the election could produce a broad-based government capable of ending the daily suicide attacks and other violence that have ravaged the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Sunni Arabs make up about 20 percent of Iraq's estimated 27 million people, compared with about 60 percent for Shiites.

"We believe that these elections will lead to forming a balanced government of all parts of the Iraqi people and it will not be controlled by a specific group and this will lead to solving the problems," said Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the largest Sunni Arab slate — the Iraqi Accordance Front.

"We will not accept that any part of the Iraqi people not be represented unless they themselves don't want to take part."

Difficult times lie ahead, however. The coalition of religious Shiite parties that dominates the current government is expected to win the biggest portion of the 275 seats but almost certainly will need to compromise with rival factions to form a government.

Although Thursday's violence was relatively light — three people were killed in bombings around Iraq — police said today that five bodies were found in the predominantly Shiite north Baghdad suburb of Kazimiyah.

Police Lt. Col. Riyad Abdulwahid said four of the bodies had been shot and were wearing Interior Ministry commando uniforms, a force accused by Sunni Arabs of participating in the abuse and torture of detainees. The fifth body had been decapitated and was dressed in an Iraqi army uniform, Abdulwahid added.

Heavily armed Iraqi troops transported ballots in transparent boxes to central warehouses in each province, usually after the votes had been counted at polling stations around Iraq. A nationwide vehicle ban remained in effect, and most Iraqis walked to mosques for prayers, just as they had walked to polling stations Thursday.

Streets were generally empty of cars, except for trucks carrying ballots, police, ambulances and a few others with permits.

Many Sunnis said they voted to register their opposition to the Shiite-led government and to speed the end of the U.S. military presence.

"What happened yesterday in Sunni areas and Iraq does not mean that the resistance is getting weaker," said Mohammed Abdelkarim, 42, a teacher in Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad. "The resistance will not die till the withdrawal of the occupation forces."

Opposition to the American military presence runs deeper among Sunni Arabs, the minority group that enjoyed a privileged position under Saddam, than among any of Iraq's other religious and ethnic communities.

While Sunnis were defiant, Shiites and Kurds seemed hopeful the new government would be more successful than the outgoing one in restoring security.

A common theme, however, appeared to be a yearning for an end to the turmoil that has engulfed Iraq since the U.S.-led coalition invaded in March 2003.

Insurgent groups, as promised, generally refrained from attacking polling stations. In Ramadi, masked gunmen provided by local sheiks guarded polling stations, frisking voters as they entered.

President Bush called the election "a major step forward in achieving our objective." U.S. officials hope a broad-based government will be able to quell the bloodshed so that the United States can start bringing troops home next year.

A successful election followed by an effective, broad-based government also would give the Bush administration a significant victory in its campaign to spread democracy through the Middle East. But many Shiite politicians have little interest in concessions to Sunnis on their key demands, including a greater share of power and allowing a role for Saddam loyalists in public life.

As a result, negotiations to create a new government — including a prime minister — could drag on for weeks just as they did following January's election, when many Sunnis stayed away from the polls because of threats of violence or to honor boycott calls. Another prolonged political struggle might worsen sectarian tensions.