Mercifully, Iraq's provincial elections on Saturday were a largely peaceful affair . Voter turnout was less than anticipated. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his party appear to have consolidated their influence, although votes are still being counted. Jennifer Bushaw at FPA's Iraq blog characterizes the elections as a chance to see the impact of Iraq's democratic experiment; the International Crisis Group's Joost Hiltermann cautions against reading too much into one day's proceedings given the depth of Iraq's other issues. Baghdad Bureau's contributors suggest that the dominant influence in decisionmaking was, emphatically, security; hence Maliki's/Dawa's anticipated success. Problems with registering internally displaced Iraqis were one factor in the minimal turnout; we can hope that it won't be one that gives rise to any violent reactions.