BAGHDAD, Jan. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The following are quotes from the Iraqi parliamentary elections on Sunday.

    Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said: "This is a historic moment for Iraq in a time when Iraqis can hold their headshigh because they are challenging the terrorists and starting to write their future with their own hands."

    Interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar said: "I hope everyone will go out and vote, God willing."

    Abdul Rahman, a Fallujah resident, said: "People expressed theirhope by voting that the new government will reward them by rebuilding their destroyed houses. People are so desperate because only about 20 percent of the city population returned to their houses or the remains of their houses."

    Muhani Saaed, a monitor working in Baghdad's Mansur district polling booth, said: "I am 56 now. I walked 5 kilometers from my home to the booth. I heard rounds of blasts on my way, but I was not deterred. After all, it's my duty to serve my country."

    Hadith, a women casting ballot with her family in Baghdad's Mansur district polling booth, said: "It's still not safe in Iraq till now, but I can't afford missing the chance to choose our future. I am over 40, and I feel I have been waiting for this day all my life." Enditem