Special voting including hospital employees, in-patients, prison inmates and police and army forces who will be busy protecting voting centres in the election day. Iraqi police forces cast their ballots in a polling station in eastern Baghdad

It is the second full national ballot since the 2003 U.S. invasion, and Iraqis are being wooed by an array of rival blocs hungry for power in the next government, which will handle multi-billion dollar oil deals and disputes over territory.

The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) of Iraq expected that around 700,000 people will participate in the early voting, including 600,000 security personnel and 50,000 prisoners.

The election will determine who runs Iraq as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw by the end of 2011 and massive oil sector projects kick into gear. If broadly accepted, the vote could help to heal the rift between Sunni and Shi´ite; if it is viewed as unfair by Sunnis, it could lead to more bloodshed and strife.

Zebari added The vote will be an important barometer for the future of disputed territories like Mosul and the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, claimed by both the semi-autonomous Kurdish authority and the federal government in Baghdad, since reliable census data for the areas has not existed.

The next government may need more than the five months it took to form Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki´s because of a lack of more alliances ahead of the vote, he said. But it will be a broad coalition requiring consensus because no one or two electoral blocs have enough support for an outright majority.