Guide to the Iraq election

This week, parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place across polling stations in Iraq.

Currently, around 15.5 million of Iraq's 26 million population are registered to vote.

An estimated 1.5 million Iraqis living outside the country also get a chance to cast their votes over a two-day period in polling centres in 15 countries, including the UAE.

American officials hope for a large Sunni turnout as this could eventually help in defusing the insurgency.

Many analysts have been critical of the number of times Iraqis have voted within this past year. This is not just limited to electoral elections.

On 30th January, millions of Iraqis went to the polls to elect a transitional assembly. Some Iraqi leaders as well as international leaders hailed it as a success.

In March 2004, Iyad Allawi, a Shia, was named prime minister of the interim government. Several months later, the Iraqi National Conference selected a 100-seat national assembly to oversee the Shia man's government until the general elections.

Then in April, the Iraqi parliament elected Kurdish leader Jalal Talibani as Iraq's president. This was seen as a political victory by many, considering the endured suffering of Kurds under Saddam Hussein.

Iraqis again went to the poll in October to vote in a referendum on Iraq's new constitution under which the country would be an Islamic federal democracy.  This paved the way for elections for a new four-year National Assembly.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani already announced he will not seek re-election because the new constitution has curbed his powers. Talabani is leader of one of Iraq's two main Kurdish parties.

Five militant groups in Iraq (including Al Qaeda) denounced this election as a ?satanic project? and vowed to keep fighting against the current system. The groups' collective aim is to establish an Islamic state in Iraq.