UN News Centre: "23 December 2004 - Nearly 6,250 candidates have so far registered for next month's elections to Iraq's 275-member national assembly, which will draft a constitution and appoint a new government to run the country until a presidential ballot is held at the end of the year, the United Nations mission reported today.

Overall, 223 political entities and 33 coalitions have presented 19,000 candidates for the 30 January elections for the national assembly, the local governorates and the Kurdistan National Assembly."

(Via GlobalSecurity.org.)