BAGHDAD, Dec. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- With less than 24 hours to go before a landmark poll, streets, squares and other usually bustling public places in Baghdad were eerily quiet on Wednesday as 15 million plus Iraqis will elect their first full-term parliament since the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

    Virtually no civilian vehicles were in sight in Baghdad streets except for those with government permission and US and Iraqi patrols with wailing sirens. Checkpoints spread on the main streets.

    More than five million Baghdad is stayed, or forced to stay, at home after the government announced a five-day holiday, starting on Tuesday, and enforced a traffic ban as part of the rigorous security measures, which also included imposing curfews, closing borders and airports.

    Business came to a standstill as most shops and restaurants closed. School-free children took the chance to play football in the car-free streets and intersections.

    "I move freely on the empty streets with my bike as the traffic ban does not include the bikes, nevertheless, I get down from my bike when I reach a checkpoint because I am afraid they would think I am riding an explosive-packed bike," said Abu Taha, a local resident in western Baghdad.

    Iraqis will choose among 7,655 candidates who are running on 996 lists across the country.

    The electoral commission has ratified 307 political groups, either single candidates or parties, and 19 coalition lists. 

    In Baghdad, the largest constituency, 2,161 candidates will compete for 59 seats in the upcoming representative council (parliament).

    There are 33,000 polling stations around Iraq, monitored by 230,000 representatives of competing political entities and 120,000 monitors from civil society organizations, according to the electoral commission's executive director, Adel Ali al-Lami.  

    In the latest development, an interior ministry source said earlier in the day that Iraq's border police seized a truck loaded with hundreds of thousands of blank ballot papers similar to those to be used in the general elections in the town of Badrah near the Iranian border in eastern Iraq.

    He said the police seized the Iranian driver and were looking for three other similar trucks which entered Iraq from Iran.  

    US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad warned against Iranian interference on Tuesday, saying that Washington was concerned about Iran's potential influence in Iraq.

    Bent on staging a complete comeback this time, Iraq's minority Sunni Arabs, who used to enjoy privilege under Saddam's rule but were largely marginalized under the Shiite-and-Kurdish-dominated government, have decided to take an active part in this election.

    Sunni Arabs were under-represented in the interim parliament since a majority of them shunned the January elections due to boycott or out of fear, but they are expected to fare well when Sunni voters are mobilized to participate in the December polls. Enditem