BAGHDAD, Feb 13 (AFP) - The final results of Iraq's general election are due to be announced on Sunday, two weeks after Iraqis took part in their first free elections in half a century amid relentless violence.
Following is a factfile on the country:
- GEOGRAPHY: Iraq borders Turkey, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria. It has a narrow outlet to the sea on the Gulf and a surface area of 438,317 square kilometres (169,235 square miles).
- POPULATION: The World Bank estimates 27 million.
- CAPITAL: Baghdad (about seven million inhabitants).
- RELIGION: An estimated 60 percent are Shiite Muslims, while deposed leader Saddam Hussein and most of his entourage were Sunnis (around 20 percent of the population). There is also a Christian minority of some 700,000 people.
- HISTORY: Iraq was under British mandate following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after the end of World War I in 1918. Emir Faisal bin Hussein became king in 1921. Iraq became independent on October 3, 1932.
King Faisal II, the grandson of Iraq's first king, was killed in a military coup led by Abdul Karim Kassem on July 14, 1958.
On February 8, 1963, Kassem was ousted in a coup led by the Baath party and elements of the Iraqi army. The Baath party was pushed from power in November that year by Colonel Abd al-Salam Muhammad Arif. Arif died in a plane crash in 1966.
On July 17, 1968, the Baath party returned to government in a successful coup. The vice president of the new Revolution Command Council, Saddam Hussein, took over as state president in 1979.
Saddam's forces invaded Iran in September 1980, a year and a half after the Islamic revolution there. An estimated 375,000 Iraqis were killed or maimed, 60,000 taken prisoner and many others made refugees before the war ended in August 1988. Iranian casualties numbered up to one million.
On August 2, 1990, Iraqi forces invaded and occupied Kuwait until they were expelled by a US-led multinational force on February 28, 1991, after the six-week Gulf War. An uprising in mainly Shiite southern Iraq was put down by Baghdad.
In April 1991, the UN Security Council imposed the widest-ranging set of sanctions in its history, including an arms embargo and a ban on oil exports to force Iraq to dismantle weapons of mass destruction.
The United Nations launched its "oil-for-food" programme to ease the humanitarian impact of the sanctions in December 1996. Almost 65 billion dollars worth of goods were imported before the programme ended in April 2003.
On March 20, 2003, US and British forces invaded Iraq, arguing that Baghdad had defied UN demands to disarm. The capital was occupied on April 9 and Saddam went underground. He was captured on December 13, 2003.
- POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS: A 25-member Governing Council was set up under the US-led occupying forces in July 2003. It adopted an interim constitution for a federal Iraq on March 8, 2004. Power was handed to the Iraqis and the Coalition Provisional Authority on June 28, 2004.
A new executive, charged with administering the country until national elections could be held, was put in place on July 1, 2004. Tribal chief Ghazi al-Yawar, a Sunni Muslim, became the first president after Saddam and an interim government, led by Iyad Allawi, was appointed.
A new parliament, to be directly elected on January 30, will adopt a permanent constitution with elections due in December.
- ECONOMY AND RESOURCES: Iraq has the world's second-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia, with an estimated 115 billion barrels of high-quality crude, almost 11 percent of the world total. It is a member of OPEC.
- DEBT: The Paris Club of creditor nations agreed in November 2004 to write off 80 percent of Iraq's debt, estimated to total 120 billion dollars, mostly for military supplies. Iran demands another 100 billion dollars for its war with Iraq. Kuwait has filed claims for 170 billion dollars for the August 1990 invasion and seven-month occupation, of which 37 billion has been approved by the UN Compensation Commission.
- DEFENCE: The 400,000-strong Iraqi army was disbanded by the US-led coalition in May 2003 and a new force was created in its place. With the integration of 40,000 National Guard troops, the force reached 54,000 men -- a figure set to rise to 65,000 by the end of 2005. Allawi wants to expand the force to more than 150,000 strong.
Iraq is a member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League.
02/13/2005 08:22 GMT - AFP