BAGHDAD — A young Sunni man strolling along the Tigris River hesitated when asked whom he had voted for in provincial elections Saturday. Then he gave an answer that would have seemed unthinkable during the depths of Iraq’s bloody civil war: “Our prime minister” — the Shiite head of the government, Nouri al-Maliki.

Along Haifa Street, where high-rises once served as shooting galleries for Sunni gunmen battling U.S. troops, another Sunni voter was coy about his choice but hinted that he, too, is pleased with the job al-Maliki has done. “Definitely I’m happy,” the elderly man said when asked his opinion of the current state of affairs in Iraq.

Four years ago, during Iraq’s last provincial elections, most Sunnis boycotted the vote, leaving the country’s powerful provincial councils dominated by the ascendant Shiites and Kurds. This time the Sunnis took part, but that won’t necessarily hurt al-Maliki as he seeks to solidify his Islamic party’s hold on power.

Sectarianism certainly remains an issue here, but in some voters’ minds, it’s trumped by the improved security that al-Maliki, rightly or wrongly, is credited with bringing to once-lawless parts of Iraq.

Underscoring the security gains were the latest death tolls from war-related violence, released Friday: 189 civilians and Iraqi security forces were killed in January, the lowest total since April 2003, when the initial ground war of the U.S.-led invasion ended.

“When there are insurgents on the Sunni side, he hits them. When there are insurgents on the Shiite side, he hits them,” the riverside stroller, Wissam Hussam, said of al-Maliki, whom he initially distrusted on sectarian grounds but has grown to admire.

Such views bode well for al-Maliki, who faces national elections later this year and would like to use a strong showing in this vote to hinder his rivals, be they Kurds, rival Shiites, secularists or Sunni parties.

Many adults headed to vote with children in tow, a sign that the security fears of the past were gone. At a polling site in heavily Shiite Sadr City, election volunteers had laced the rooms with ribbons, glittering tinsel, silk roses and colored balloons that bore the messages, “I love you” and “Happy Birshday.” The spelling was off, but the idea was clear.

“When people come to vote, they should be happy,” the director of the polling station said when asked about the decorations.

In the campaign’s final days, al-Maliki launched a charm offensive in major cities, preaching against sectarianism and insisting that the election process itself — not the result — was the important thing.

“Saturday must be an electoral wedding party,” he said Thursday in the northern city of Mosul, where he urged Iraqis to “send a message to the world” that they no longer defined themselves according to religious sect.