[JURIST] The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq has backtracked on a widely-reported estimate by one of its officials earlier Sunday who had suggested that some 72% of Iraqis eligible to vote had gone to the polls. In a cautionary statement the IECI said:

Turnout figures recently announced represent the enormous and understandable enthusiasm felt in the field on this historic day… However, these figures are only very rough, word-of-mouth estimates gathered informally from the field. It will take some time for the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq to issue accurate figures on turnout.

A Commission spokesman did suggest, however, that approximately eight million people may still have voted in the poll, about 60% of the eligible electorate. Aljazeera has more.