IRAQ: Who is being elected? Voters will choose 275 members of a national assembly, whose key task will be to debate and approve a new constitution. They will also choose members of 18 provincial assemblies and the autonomous Kurdish parliament in the north.
The national assembly will pick a new government to succeed the interim administration formed in June by the US-led occupation authority in consultation with the UN.
The assembly is meant to be dissolved and a new parliament elected according to the new constitution by the end of 2005.
How does it work? All Iraqis aged over 18 on January 1st can vote - perhaps some 15 million of a population of about 27 million. The election register is based on the ration list, a relic of UN sanctions.
Tomorrow, voters must bring two forms of photo identification to their local polling station. After voting, their name is crossed off the register and their thumb marked with indelible ink to prevent them voting again.
There is one national ballot, without constituencies. Voters cast one vote for a list of candidates put forward by a party or coalition. There will be around 40,000 voting booths in 6,000 to 9,000 polling stations, including some in 14 overseas countries where Iraqi expatriates have already started voting. Seats are allocated by proportional representation, so a list that wins 20 per cent of the vote will receive 55 seats, attributed to the top 55 names on its list.
Who is standing? In all, 256 groups and individuals registered. But many are either not fielding candidates or joined 33 coalition lists, leaving the likely ballot paper featuring about 100 choices.
Most parties reflect sectarian and ethnic divides.
Shia Muslims, the long-oppressed 60 per cent majority, are likely to back Shia parties, some overtly religious, others secular.
Kurds, accounting for 10 to 15 per cent of Iraqis, mostly back one of two big Kurdish parties.
Sunni Arabs, about 20 per cent of the population, dominated Saddam's regime and earlier administrations and some Sunni parties have called for an election boycott. However, many Sunni groups are now standing in the poll.
Below is a list of the main coalitions and parties fighting the election, as well as the party leaders:
United Iraqi List: Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Shia Islamist) - Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
Islamic Dawa Party (Shia Islamist) - Iraqi Vice-President Ibrahim Jaafari
Islamic Dawa Party Iraq Organisation (Shia Islamist) - Abdul Karim Anizi
Iraqi National Congress (secular) - Ahmad Chalabi
Islamic Virtue Party (Shia Islamist) - Nadim Issa Jabiri
Turkmen Islamic Union (Turkmen) - Abbas Hassan al-Bayati
Islamic Action Organisation (Shia Islamist) - Ibrahim al-Matiri. Also includes nine other Shia and Turkmen parties and prominent Saddam-era dissenter Hussain al-Shahristani
Kurdistan Alliance List: Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (Kurdish) - Jalal Talabani
Kurdistan Democratic Party (Kurdish) - Massoud Barzani. With nine other Kurdish parties
Iraqi List; Iraqi National Accord (secular) - Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. With five other secular parties and one individual
Patriotic Rafidain Party
Assyrian Democratic Movement (Christian) - Yonadim Kanna
Chaldean National Council (Christian)
People's Union
Iraqi Communist Party (secular) - Hamid Majid Moussa. With one additional individual candidate
Main Single Party Lists: Iraqi Islamic Party (Sunni Islamist) - Mohsen Abdul Hamid
Independent Democratic Movement (secular) - Adnan Pachachi
Iraqis (secular) - Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar
Iraqi National Gathering (secular) - Hussein al-Jibouri
Constitutional Monarchy (secular) - Al-Sharif Ali Bin Hussein
Reconciliation and Liberation Bloc - Mishaan Jibouri - (Reuters)