A democratic tradition exists only in the Kurdish north.

As it collapsed, so did the government's control of Shiite cities in the south and much of the Kurdish north.

A6 Voters in Iraq's Kurdish north lined up early and late to cast ballots.

Huge petroleum deposits have long been known in Iraq's Kurdish north and Shiite south.

As many as one million more votes are also expected from the Kurdish north.

Erbil is the administrative center of Iraq's Kurdish north.

Most of Iraq's crude oil reserves lie in the Shiite south and Kurdish north.

Many Iraqis have fled to the Kurdish north because of the relative safety there.

More than a million of them are in the Kurdish north and about 825,000 in the center and south.

To get there, however, they would need to cross through the Kurdish north.