Iraqis go to the polls Saturday to vote in their first parliamentary
elections since the defeat of ISIS last year, with the economy, jobs, security and corruption high on the list of voters' concerns as the country seeks to rebuild after years of conflict.
Nearly 7,000 candidates are contesting 329 seats in the parliament, of which a quarter must go to women.
Under the power-sharing system brought in after the 2003 US-led invasion, the position of prime minister is reserved for a Shiite.
Incumbent
Haider al-Abadi, who's been in power since 2014, is hoping to win back the top job. But the country's Shiite bloc has splintered into five major coalitions, making it hard to predict which will come out on top.
Whoever wins will still need to reach out to other blocs, including Sunni and Kurdish coalitions, to form a governing alliance.
The next prime minister will then face the daunting task of stabilizing a nation scarred by ISIS' rise and still plagued by sectarian division at a critical juncture in its history.
Abadi credited with defeating ISISAbadi, who heads the Nasr, or Victory, coalition, is widely credited in Iraq with helping to reconstruct the Iraqi Army and defeat ISIS. He will hope to capitalize on that support even as many voters lament a lack of improvement in their daily lives.
Ahead of the election, Abadi has sought to broaden his coalition to bring in significant Sunni figures and avoid overt sectarianism -- and his is the only coalition running in all 18 of Iraq's provinces.
During the war against ISIS, he succeeded in balancing the interests of Iraq's powerful neighbor, Iran, and the United States, as well as significantly improving relations with Saudi Arabia and boosting Iraq's diplomatic standing overall.
Baghdad also regained control of disputed oil-rich fields in Kirkuk last year following a contentious Kurdish independence referendum in September. While that has not endeared Abadi to many Kurds, outside the Kurdish region he is credited with taking a strong position and reasserting central government control without major bloodshed.
But many Iraqis are also frustrated by the limited change they've seen in their daily lives.
Among their complaints are a dearth of job opportunities, a struggling economy and crumbling infrastructure, with frequent power cuts. They also lament poor government services and slow reconstruction in areas such as Tikrit, Falluja and Mosul that were devastated in the battle against ISIS.
Corruption is another major issue, blamed by many Iraqis for their country's failure to translate the wealth from its natural resources into a better life for all its citizens.
Chief rivalsAbadi's chief rivals include former Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki, who leads the State of Law coalition.
During his two terms in power, from 2006 to 2014, Maliki was widely seen as having alienated a large part of the Sunni population and by doing so having prepared the ground for the rise of ISIS. But he maintains significant support and has close ties to Iran.
Another significant contender is Hadi al-Amiri, who heads the Fatah (Conquest) coalition and also has strong links with Tehran, having spent much of his youth in exile in Iran and fought on the side of the Iranians in the Iran-Iraq War.
Amiri helped command the Hashd al Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) -- the largely Shiite, pro-Iranian paramilitary force that supported the Iraqi Army in the fight against ISIS.
While the PMU played a vital role in defeating ISIS, some groups under its umbrella were accused of committing sectarian abuses against Sunnis and Kurds, an allegation the PMU denied.
Last week, Iraq's highest Shiite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urged voters not to reelect "corrupt" lawmakers and warned that "foreign agendas" could undermine the country's ability to carry out a free and fair vote.
In a televised statement delivered by his representative after Friday prayers, al-Sistani urged voters to learn from the past. "Avoid falling into the trap of those who are corrupt and those who have failed, whether they have been tried or not," he said.
It was al-Sistani's call for Iraqis to take up arms against ISIS in 2014 that led to the creation of the Hashd al Shaabi force, which reports directly to the Prime Minister's office.
Security fearsThere's little doubt security remains a big issue as Iraq prepares for the elections.
One candidate -- a college professor named Farouq Zarzour -- was assassinated this week in a town near Mosul. He was running for parliament as part of the National Coalition led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
A spokesman for ISIS also urged attacks against polling stations and voters in an audio message released last month.
Abadi may have declared the defeat of ISIS last September but the extremist group remains a threat, with a continued presence in small pockets of the country and sleeper cells elsewhere.