Iraqis voted for a 275-member Transitional National Assembly.

Political parties have submitted lists of candidates, and every third name has to be a woman's. Candidates have to be aged at least 30. Parties or groups with militias cannot run for election and nor can current members of the armed forces. Also barred from standing are former senior members of the Baath Party, the political instrument of Saddam Hussein's rule.

The seats will be allocated by exact proportional representation, which means that each party or grouping will get the same proportion of seats in the assembly as it gets for its list in the popular vote. The assembly will have law-making powers. But first it must elect a state presidency council made up of a president and two deputies.

The council in turn will choose a prime minister who will select ministers. The assembly will then vote on the make-up of the government. The prime minister will be the key figure, having control over the armed forces, for example.

The assembly's other main role is to write a draft constitution by 15 August and submit this to referendum by 15 October. Parliamentary elections are due in December. The assembly first has to choose the presidency council. The council has two weeks in which to select a prime minister who has four weeks to nominate a government. There then has to be a vote in the assembly.

The whole process could go on until the end of March or the beginning of April, though if deals are done quickly, this timeframe could be shortened. If the constitution is approved in October, an election will be held by 15 December and a fully constitutional government will take power by 31 December. If the constitution is rejected, there will be a new assembly election by 15 December, and a further year is then allowed for the whole process.

There is also provision for a delay of six months if not enough progress is made on the constitution by 1 August.

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