Voters will choose a 275-member National Assembly and governing councils in the 18 provinces. Voters in the Kurdish-ruled area will choose a new regional parliament.

You can view the parties on the ballot here.

The election is for a 275 member assembly, that is going to draft a constitution for Iraq - All of Iraq is treated as one constituency, and members will be elected according to the proportional vote their slates have received. Electoral slates submitted by coalitions and parties must have minimum 12 maximum 275 candidates listed. On the ballot the name of the slate, a logo, a number (chosen through lottery) and the name of the top candidate will be listed. 33% of the candidates must be women, to assure at least 25% of the elected are women. The voters will also elect 18 provincial councils and in Kurdistan a regional parliament.

Many do not believe this election is a democratic process.

This is an election that U.S. policymakers were forced to accept and now hope can entrench their power, not displace it. They seek not an election that will lead to a U.S. withdrawal, but one that will bolster their ability to make a case for staying indefinitely.

This is crucial to keep in mind as the mainstream media begins to give us pictures of long lines at polling places to show how much Iraqis support this election and to repeat the Bush administration line about bringing freedom to a part of the world starved for democracy. Those media reports also will give some space to those critics who remain comfortably within the permissible ideological limits – that is, those who agree that the U.S. aim is freedom for Iraq and, therefore, are allowed to quibble with a few minor aspects of administration policy.

TalkLeft will follow the Iraqi elections throughout the weekend. Please, weigh in.