BAGHDAD — Sadr City, the section of the Iraqi capital previously known as Revolution City and then Saddam City, has long been seen as a violent place filled with the disenfranchised.

It is bursting at the seams with an estimated population of some 3.5 million, half the population of Baghdad. High unemployment, dire poverty and a long history of militia violence have made Sadr City a no-go area for many Baghdad residents, despite marked improvement in security in recent years.

On May 12, less than half of the Iraqis who were eligible to vote in parliamentary elections cast ballots. Baghdad’s streets were virtually empty due to hard-to-obtain vehicle permits and most shops stayed shuttered all day; airports and borders also were closed.

Sadr City instead had taxis plying for trade and a fruit and vegetable market open, with a single soldier leaning casually against an armored vehicle nearby. Children played soccer in the square near an office of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, was assassinated in 1999.