[JURIST] The United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of 23 mainstream Shiite groups under the auspices of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, announced Thursday a list of 228 candidates running for office in the Iraq elections scheduled for January 30. Iraq's Sunni factions, who have indicated that they may boycott the election, were not included in the list, and have not announced their own candidates. In the upcoming election, Iraqis will choose a 275-member national assembly (Majlis Watani) that will write a permanent constitution to replace the current Transitional Administrative Law. Voting will be done by party list, meaning that people will not vote for individual candidates but for coalitions like the one presented on Thursday. AP has more. BBC News has background on the Iraqi leaders likely to be influential in the upcoming election.