Neighborhood by neighborhood, the capital plays out the national drama of religious and ethnic tension as some laud the poll as their salvation and others as a nail in the coffin.

"If I don't vote in the elections, I will go to hell," says Mohammed Ali Kadumi, 56, a tailor in the bustling, mainly Shia shopping district of Kadamiya.

Shia religious authorities in the holy city of Najaf "issued a fatwa (religious edict) to take part in the elections, so I have to," he says.

Down the street, smartly dressed gold merchant Hassan al-Awadi, 28, says he backs the front-running Shia list, the United Iraqi Alliance.

"It's the best for Shias, but I also expect most Sunnis to take part," he says, playing down Sunni leaders' calls to boycott the election.

Like most of Iraq's long-oppressed Shia majority, who make up 60 percent of the country's population, grocer Jawad Qassem, 48, is also optimistic.

"The elections mean democracy and freedom, and it's an order from Najaf to vote, so I will go to the polling station with my sons and my brothers. I hope all the problems will soon disappear.

Across the Tigris river in the mostly Sunni Adhamiya district, however, the mood is more pessimistic.