*IRAQ VOTERS FED UP*

Only a decade after the country's first ever multi-party elections, disenchanted Iraqis say ''the same old faces'' with their -

Vested interests have been running the show since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussain.

''How long have Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Ayad Allawi, Nur al-Maliki or Haider-al- Abadi been in power? One minute as MPs, the next as ministers,'' said Midan al-Hamadani, listing Iraq's foreign minister, vice president, ex prime minister and current premier.

''The parties are always the same and the same people come back to power, whether we like it or not,'' said the 40 year old Baghdad resident.

Widespread corruption combined with failings in basic services such as water, electricity and transportation have reinforced the public's lack of faith in Iraq's political leaders.

In a country with a long history of conflict and intercommunal violence, more that 24 million Iraqis are registered to elect 320 deputed from a field of around 7,000 candidates on May 12, with 71 seats reserve for the capital.

Baghdad has been inundated with election, posters plastered on apartment buildings and even trees.

In some places, candidates faces have overshadowed posters of the ''martyrs'' killed in 2014-17  defeat of the Islamic State [IS] group in northern and western Iraq.

''It's the same old faces! All they care about is getting rich, not serving the people!'' Said an angry Haidar al Shamri, 35 letting  rip in a street in central Baghdad.

Since the US-led invasion of 2003 that toppled Saddam, the same political figures and parties have held the levers of Power in Iraq.

''So what change has there been?'' [Agencies]

The Research Publishing continues to Part 2.