Election Day is over and now comes the hard part: getting all of Iraq's disparate groups to settle on a new sovereign government that, one hopes, will not drain the treasury through corruption, allow death squads to operate in state-owned vehicles, turn the country into a battlefield for proxy wars, or lapse into the authoritarianism and inefficiency of most other Arab states. If the incoming administration could improve the dismal basic services even a little bit, Iraqis would be grateful for that, too.

Here's just a handful of things to watch as results come in (they're expected tomorrow) and the tense business of bargaining and coalition-building begins, as no one group or bloc is expected to win an outright majority:

-- IRAN: Early results and projections from various polling/monitoring groups show that the mostly Shiite Muslim alliance made up of parties backed by Iran didn't do that well, even in the majority-Shiite south. However, that doesn't mean we can say for certain that just because Iraqis strayed from the religious parties, Iran lost. If Iran doesn't have a place at the table in the formation of the next government, Tehran could set conditions for a very uncomfortable exit for U.S. forces, who are scheduled to withdraw by the end of next year. Possible scenario: reactivate "special groups" cells or ramp up militia activity; remnants of both the Mahdi Army and Badr Organization fall under this bloc's umbrella.

-- GORAN: The upstart Kurdish reformist movement, whose name is the Kurdish word for "change," is viewed as a serious threat to the balance of power up north, where the two traditional parties known by their acronyms, KDP and PUK, are keeping a close eye on the splinter group. More on Goran here.

-- PRESIDENT: Will the Kurds keep the presidency? Or will Sunni Arabs stake a claim? This is a biggie as long as the presidential office retains veto power, but it looks as if that's going to be gone this time around (I've been told there's no constitutional guarantee of the veto). Still, it's an important ceremonial position that comes with a lot of the trappings of power, if not actual influence.

-- PRIME MINISTER: Many Iraqis are taking a devil-you-know attitude toward the incumbent Nouri al Maliki, supporting him not because they're thrilled at his decidedly mixed track record on security, corruption, sovereignty and services, but because the other contenders could be so much worse. One name that's cropping up: Bakr al Zubeidi. Doesn't ring a bell? He's the current finance minister, who went by Bayan Jabr when he was the interim interior minister and was dubbed "minister of civil war" for what's described as either complicity or criminal negligence relating to the days when death squads terrorized Iraq using ministry-issued guns, vehicles, and handcuffs. Funny thing is, the killings stopped as soon as Jabr left the post.

-- BIG SIX MINISTRIES: interior, defense, finance, justice, foreign affairs, oil. These are the cornerstone of the government and there will be long, drawn-out battles for each post. Sunnis in particular are hoping for more Cabinet positions this time around, after they boycotted the last parliamentary polls in 2005 and found themselves sidelined and virtually powerless.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki held a luncheon for reporters today, followed by a press conference in which he gave a speech that was defiant and yet also sounded a bit like a swan song.

At one point, Maliki even acknowledged, in a roundabout way, that he might not win the election that once seemed his for the taking. The landmark parliamentary election is Sunday, when voters will determine whether to stay the course with Maliki, who's fashioned himself into the centrist candidate. The other two most viable options are a secular, mixed-sect bloc or a mostly Shiite Muslim slate with ties to Iran.

"This could be the last time we meet like this," Maliki told the reporters in the room. Only a couple of Westerners attended, and I was the only woman. The rest represented Iraq's many TV stations and newspapers.

At the lunch before the news conference, journalists sat at banquet tables as sharply dressed waiters served us the grilled Iraqi fish known as mazkouf, trays of lamb, several kinds of rice and honey-soaked pastries from Baghdad's best confectionary. Everyone was hungry, but we were advised not to start until "the host" arrived. Until that moment, nobody had realized Maliki would be dining with us, which is rare for a man whose administration has had a testy and often combative relationship with the media.

Maliki swept into the dining area in a navy suit and tie. He didn't work the room, he didn't greet journalists with anything more than a cursory nod and mumbled "As salamu alaikum," followed by an order for everyone to sit. Aloof and somber, he had a hangdog look about him, and none of the charm of, say, an Ayad Allawi or Ahmad Chalabi.

It was a bit awkward, honestly, to be tucking into a delicious Iraqi meal a table over from the prime minister, who was technically our host but barely acknowledged his guests' presence. I sneaked a few glances at him and found him picking at a small piece of lamb, sipping a Diet Pepsi and trying only a forkful of the rich dessert. He indulged in an after-meal chai and then slipped away to prepare for the press conference.

After lunch, we were shepherded back into the press conference room, where the prime minister's aides passed out interpretation devices for English and Arabic questions and answers.

After a few minutes, Maliki returned and took his place at the podium, Iraqi flags behind him. Maliki may not be the life of a party, but he's become an effective and confident public speaker, deftly swatting away the same old criticisms that came his way again from reporters at the news conference: Sectarianism! Lack of sovereignty! Corruption!

He gave a speech that could be summed up as: "I wasn't perfect, but darn it, I tried my best for Iraq and its people. Along the way I was sabotaged by rivals in parliament, criticized for a Cabinet that was forced on me, forced to fend off "external influences," and still had both Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias to fight."

Maliki was far more eloquent than that, of course, and even worked in some sly digs at the U.S.-allied Arab nations that love to depict him as an American puppet. (Egypt? Saudi Arabia?)

Listening to him, my mind began to wander back to the days, in 2003 and 2004, when his name was still "Jawad," the pseudonym he used in the opposition to Saddam, and he was a mild-mannered Dawa Party functionary who gave frequent interviews and could be spotted shuffling around the Green Zone with no bodyguards.

At that time, as an Iraqi colleague reminded me today, he was the head of the fledgling Iraqi government's sovereignty committee and once gave a press conference in which he said Iraq had zero sovereignty.

Maliki, like Iraq, has come a long way from those days, and soon we'll find out whether voters believe he's come far enough.

On March 7, Iraqis will vote in parliamentary elections that will shape their country's future on a number of pressing issues: Will the next Iraqi government be U.S.-friendly or closer to its neighbor Iran? Will the nature of the government be nationalist or religious/sectarian? Can the new leadership get a handle on security and allow U.S. forces to withdraw? Who's going to have access to oil resources? What's going to happen to those millions of refugees? What future is there for Sunnis and other minorities in Iraq?

Those are complicated questions and the actual process of voting in an active conflict zone isn't any easier. Here are some of the basics of the Iraqi elections, to the best of my knowledge, culled from several briefings with Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), United Nations, the U.S. military, State Department political officers, and watchdog groups.

For those who want to really see how the sausage is made, the intricacies of the process can be found under the"Electoral Support' section of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) homepage. If you have specific questions about the elections, please leave them in the comments section and I'll do my best to find you answers.

In the meantime, here are some quickie answers to basic questions:

Q. These elections are for parliament so why are they so important?
A. Unlike the United States, for example, there is no presidential election in Iraq. The Iraqi president is largely a ceremonial role, while the real power lies with the prime minister. Iraqi voters will cast votes for one of many political parties (they can also vote for some individuals). Those political parties have formed political alliances with other blocs. The ticket that gets the most votes will get to choose the prime minister and will have greater say in forming a Cabinet and could have more legislators in parliament. So, the government formed by a nationalist, pro-Western slate could look very different from a government formed by a religious-based, Iranian-backed slate. Those are just two examples - there are candidates of all stripes running for office.

Q. Is there just one Election Day?
A. The main Election Day is March 7. However, March 4 will be a special voting day for members of Iraq's security forces and some medical workers because people in those fields will be busy securing the country on Election Day. And there will be three days of special voting -- March 5,6, and 7 -- in 16 countries for voters living outside Iraq as refugees or immigrants. The UN says the out-of-country vote could encompass anywhere from 300,000 to 3 million.

Q. Who are the candidates?
A. About 6,200 candidates are running for office. Some are members of the incumbent government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. Others come from powerful political parties and tribal confederations. Still others are first-timers, total unknowns. Candidates include doctors, lawyers, tribal leaders, clerics, educators and businessmen and women. Some Iraqis complain of a conflict of interest because the candidates include some sitting judges and media personalities -- people who should remain neutral, according to their professions' standards. All candidates had to pass a background test and, in one of the most controversial aspects of the election season, they had to be cleared of any suspicion of past involvement with the Baath Party of the late dictator Saddam Hussein.

Q. Are women allowed to run as candidates? Are women allowed to vote?
A. Yes and yes. Because of a government quota, 25 percent of all candidates are women, to ensure that women make up a quarter of parliament, or at least 82 seats out of a total of 325 seats. However, there are lots of tricky moves the parties employ to fill the female quota, such as signing up their wives or other relatives as candidates, even if they have no background or interest in politics. There are no legal restrictions on women voting.

Q. What will security be like on Election Day?
A. There will be a heavy Iraqi police and Iraqi army presence around polling places. The Iraqi government has announced a four-day nighttime curfew starting March 4. Borders between the provinces will be sealed a day or two before Election Day. On Election Day, there is a total ban on vehicles (a measure to prevent car bombs) with the exceptions being security forces, election workers/monitors, and media, who must display special placards on their cars.

Q. How many eligible voters are there? What kind of turnout is expected?
A. There are 18.9 million eligible voters inside Iraq. No one has a good prediction for turnout because there are a number of wild cards, the first being security at polling places and whether voters feel safe enough to leave home and cast their ballots. Because of the vehicle ban on Election Day and so as not to overwhelm polling places, only 420 voters will be registered at each polling place. Each voter is supposed to have a polling place within a short walk from his/her house. There are special polling places for the up to 183,000 Iraqis who were internally displaced, typically because of sectarian violence.

Q. Who's paying for all this?
A. The Iraqi government has allocated a budget of $250 million to the Independent High Electoral Commission (known as IHEC) to recruit and train up to 300,000 election staff members.

Q. Aren't there rumors of vote-buying, tampering with the ballots and other fraud? Is anything being done to prevent such activity?
A. Yes, rumors -- some of them quite credible -- abound of politicians handing constituents cash in exchange of votes. What can be confirmed is that cadidates indeed have given potential voters air conditioners, guns, blankets and lavish meals in exchange for promises of votes. Ballot tampering might be a bit more difficult. The ballots are printed and have been arriving in Iraq, where they will be kept in heavily guarded warehouses until they are distributed for Election Day. Each polling center has voting lists and an Iraqi voter will enter the polling place, confirm with an election worker that his/her name is on the list at that station, present a photo ID, sign next to the name, get handed a ballot and then will cast the ballot in private. Illiterate voters can seek the help of an election worker or a relative who has proper ID establishing the relationship.

Q. Will there be international monitors?
A. Yes, although the UN complains there aren't enough for such a massive, complicated undertaking. There will be 13 teams of UN "poll-watchers," but they won't be doing monitoring per se because the UN is involved in helping to carry out the elections. There will be other teams of election observers doing monitoring - for example, the European Union is sending 126 observers to 14 provinces. There are a total of about 500 to 600 international observers, but the majority of the monitoring will be conducted by Iraqis, especially from the individual political parties.

Q. When can we expect election results?
A. This is a tricky question. There should be a rough indicator of results within a day or two. After polls close on March 7, Iraqi election workers will count the ballots in the polling places under the watch of monitors, a process that is expected to take until midnight or later. For the first time, the results of each polling place will be posted at the polling site and will remain up for 24 hours --  this gives sophisticated parties the ability to send scouts to each polling place and tally up the rough results fairly quickly. However, these are not the official results. After that initial count, the ballots are taken to secure warehouses where 1,100 data-entry workers will work in two shifts to enter the data. As soon as 30 percent of the polling stations in each province is entered, IHEC will begin issuing preliminary resuts, which will be updated twice a day until the process is complete. The absolute final results - after disputes/complaints are settled and the out-of-country ballots are in - may not be certified until the end of March.

Q. And how soon after the results will a new Iraqi government be formed?
A. That's perhaps the toughest question of all. The results will kick off an intense - and possibly violent - period of horse-trading and deal-making. Some U.S. military and American civilian advisers have speculated it will take four to six months before a new government is formed. Others say that's optimistic, given the fractious nature of Iraqi politics.