Since campaigning officially began on February 12, cities across Iraq's northern Kurdish region have been waiting for the election in anticipation.<br /><br />Posters depicting a number of candidates and officials festoon the streets and lamp posts are strewn with banners and bunting.<br /><br />Traditionally there have been two main Kurdish parties, but as Zeina Khodr reports from Sulaimaniyah, there is now a powerful, new force to contend with.<br /><br />Most ethnic Kurds in Iraq's northern region known as "Iraqi Kurdistan" see the national elections on March 7 as about safeguarding their hard-won political gains since the US-led war ousted the Baathist government in 2003.
