The success of Sunday’s election in Iraq is a victory for democracy and it is a major defeat to terrorists who tried mightily to derail the voting. Despite the murder of candidates and threats against those who planned to vote, millions of Iraqis cast their ballots. Many said they were willing to risk death to vote for peace. More than an election of National Assembly members, Sunday’s balloting was a mandate for Iraqi and coalition military forces to continue working toward a stable and free Iraq.

At a polling station in Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed himself, the policeman who was trying to search him and three others. The official in charge shut down the polls while the injured were evacuated and the situation assessed. In the meantime, the line of would-be voters lengthened.

Among them was 61-year-old Saif Aldin Jarah. “I would have been happy to have died voting at the time of this explosion, because this is terrorism mixed with rudeness,” he told The Washington Post after voting at the high school. “When terrorism becomes aimless and without a goal, it becomes rudeness.”

Like many others, Mr. Jarah proudly showed off an index finger stained with purplish ink, a mark showing that he had voted. The purple ink displays and the notion that the insurgent attacks in Iraq have become aimless are powerful condemnations of attacks that, unfortunately, are sure to continue. They should embolden the Iraqi army and U.S. troops to more forcefully end insurgent violence. If more roadblocks and restrictions on driving are necessary to minimize insurgent attacks, these are steps the military should be willing to take.

Such stringent security measures worked well on Sunday. No cars were allowed on the streets, flights were suspended and barriers were set up around polling stations. Still, 44 people were killed, many by suicide bombers. In one attack, a grenade was thrown at a group of people with inked fingers. Forty-four deaths would be a high tally under normal circumstances, but it is a small number considering that many in and out of Iraq warned just weeks ago that it was too unsafe to hold the election.

Safety is still a major concern, especially in central Iraq where Sunnis are most numerous. Although it is believed that even this group turned out in larger numbers than expected, the participation of Sunnis in the voting was minimal. A difficult task now is to bring the Sunnis, which are a minority but dominated the government under Saddam Hussein, into the democratizing process. They, too, can be made to see that attacks on the majority are aimless and rude.

Nawar Khadim Ahmed, an auto mechanic, went home after the morning suicide bombing at the Badr Kobra High School for Girls. He returned in the afternoon with his 2-year-old daughter. “We have to bury this chaos now and form a government,” he told The Post. “This is the time that we make a stand.”

The Iraqis have taken a stand. Now, more than ever, they need backing from the United States and other countries. “Terrorists and insurgents will continue to wage their war against democracy, and we will support the Iraqi people in their fight against them,” President Bush said Sunday. “There’s more distance to travel on the road to democracy, yet Iraqis are proving they are equal to the challenge.” The president’s unwavering support of a vote in the face of huge risks also gives the United States more influence in bringing about that democracy.

The winners of Sunday’s election aren’t political parties or new members of the National Assembly. They are average people hoping to go about their lives in a way most Americans would consider normal – freely and in safety. They moved a step closer with this vote.