A hundred parties, blocs and independents will contest Iraq's election on January 30, the Independent Electoral Commission said Thursday. 

It said 66 single-party lists were registered for the ballot, plus nine multi-party coalitions and 25 individuals running for a seat on their own.

The deadline for registration passed on Wednesday but full details of the candidates will not be published for some days, to allow for final amendments, a commission spokesman said.

The 275-member National Assembly will oversee the drafting of a constitution over the next year and appoint a government.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi unveiled his candidacy for the elections on Wednesday, with his name at the top of a 200-strong alliance dubbed the Iraqi List, which also includes several ministers from his government. Interim President Ghazi al-Yawar announced yesterday that he too would contest the election.

The strongest alliance appears to be one headed by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, who spent decades in exile in Iran.

With the blessing of Iraq's most influential Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, it is expected to do well among the long-oppressed Shi'ite majority, mostly in the south.

Meanwhile, rebel strikes across Baghdad killed five people -- including three paramilitary policemen and a government official -- as insurgents kept up their campaign to derail Iraq's upcoming general election.

Wednesday's launch of the campaign for the January 30 vote was also marred by an explosion near one of Shia Islam's holiest shrines in the city of Karbala. The attack in the heartland of Iraqi Shi'ite population killed eight people and wounded 40.

Also yesterday, a senior official in Iraq's Communications Ministry was shot dead as he was driving to work in Baghdad yesterday, a source at the ministry said.

Gunmen drew up alongside Kassim Imhawi's car and opened fire as he was traveling from his home in the western district Jamia district of the capital to the office, the source said.

Saddam Hussein met with a lawyer yesterday for the first time since he was arrested a year ago, his defense team said. "The interview lasted for more than 4 hours. The president seems in good health, much better compared to his first appearance before the court," Saddam's Amman-based legal team said.

(China Daily December 17, 2004)