Parliamentary elections in Iraq

Some 8.5 million Iraqi citizens will head today to the ballot box to choose their representatives for the National Council (the parliament).

The candidates are competing for 220 seats for a four-year term of office, while 30 seats will be dedicated to three Kurdish provinces in the north which have been out of Baghdad's control since 1991, and the parliamentarians for the three Kurdish provinces will be appointed according to a presidential decree.

These are the second parliamentary elections carried out in Iraq since the Gulf War.