Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ? A young man in a Saudi cafe worries that Iraq’s elections could lead to civil war. On the banks of the Nile, a student strolling with his girlfriend dismisses the polls as an American sham. Yemeni students, chewing their mildly stimulating khat leaves, express hope the United States will pressure other tyrannical regimes to change.

The Arab world paid close attention to Sunday’s polling in Iraq, which has major implications for the entire region.

The Iraq vote will almost certainly bring to power the country’s long-suppressed Shiite Muslims, boosting the sect’s influence in this Sunni Muslim-dominated area and worrying countries with Shiite minorities.

It also will mean a success for Washington’s drive to bring democracy to Iraq — a precedent that could shake up the autocratic Arab world.

“Arab governments may not say it, but they don’t want Iraq’s democratic experiment to succeed,” said Turki al-Hamad, a prominent Saudi columnist and former political science professor. “Such a success would embarrass them and present them with the dilemma of either changing or being changed.”

Arabs had mixed feelings about the poll. Many said U.S. involvement reinforced their distrust.

“This election is an American movie made to convince Iraqis to go to the polls so that the United States will stay in Iraq and control its oil,” said Jordanian Mohammed Fakhri, 28, owner of a mobile phone shop.

An Egyptian flower vendor who gave her name only as Um Abdel Rahman dismissed the poll as “a sedative for the people. Democracy is just a decoration.”

However, others hoped the poll would be a catalyst for a regionwide democratic push.

The elections are a “good omen for getting rid of dictatorship,” Yemeni political science student Fathi al-Uraiqi said, chewing khat with friends. “But I hope America is not driven by its own interests but by a genuine desire to spread democracy in the rest of the region.”

Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt said the polls can only be judged after the results come out. But so far they’ve proven “a bizarre model,” with candidates campaigning furtively for fear of insurgent attacks and Sunni Muslims boycotting the process.