A New Iraq?

While I was over in Nice, the elections in Iraq took place. Is this the beginning, as the Bush Administration claims, of a new democratic Iraqw which will help spread democracy around the Middle East, or will the cycle of violence continue for years to come, possibily even causing civil war in Iraq?

The only English language tv channel I had in the hotel was CNN, and my French is not nearly good enough to understand fast-talking newsreaders. As a result, I now appreciate the media outlets we have here in the UK a lot more. The coverage the elections received on CNN was so optimistic and positive, I actually believed they had gone almost flawlessly, with massive turnouts all around the country. To be fair, as time went on, the channel did show some reports of lower turnouts in Sunni areas, and also showed reports from Arab newspapers and TV channels. However, the initial reporting left me with a very distorted picture of the elections.
Nonetheless, they went better than could have been expected, with many fewer deaths than I feared, and as high a turnout as I hoped in Shi'ite areas. Hopefully the Sunnis can be engaged in the drafting of the constitution, otherwise civil war is a very real possibility.