Arbil, Iraq  - The people in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq went to the polls Saturday to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections.

About 2.5 million people are eligible to vote to select the president and 111 lawmakers.

President Masoud Barzani was expected to be re-elected in the five-candidate race in the semiautonomous region, and its parliament was once again expected to be dominated by a coalition of the two largest Kurdish parties, Barzani's Kurdish Democratic Party and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Polling stations close at 6 pm (1500 GMT), and the first preliminary results were expected overnight.

Saturday's voting was being held six months after the rest of Iraq held provincial elections. (dpa)