Australia has a bicameral parliament. All 150 seats in the House of Representatives, or the lower house, and 40 of the 76-member Senate, or the upper house, are up for election.

The political party (or coalition of parties) which has the most Members in the House of Representatives becomes the governing party. Its leader becomes Prime Minister and other ministers are appointed from among the party's Members and Senators.

Each Member of the House of Representatives is elected to represent an area known as an electoral division. Each electoral division within a State or Territory contains about the same number of people on the electoral roll. The electors in each division elect one person to represent them in the House of Representatives.

Senators are elected by a preferential voting system, known as proportional representation. Candidates for the Senate stand for a State or Territory. There are a total of 76 Senators: 12 for each State and two for each Territory. Senators for each State are elected for a six year term. Senators for each Territory are elected for a term equivalent to the duration of the House of Representatives.

The Australian government has been controlled by the conservative Liberal-National coalition led by Prime Minister John Howard ever since March 1996. Howard is seeking his fifth term. Heis competing with Kevin Rudd, leader of the Australian Labor Party, for the next prime-minister ship.

The Australian Labor Party, the main opposition party, will need a swing of at least 16 additional seats in the House of Representatives to form a majority government.

Voting in Australia is compulsory. It means that every Australian citizen (18 years or older) is required by law to enroll and vote. If a person does not vote and is unable to provide a "valid and sufficient" reason, a penalty is imposed. Compulsory voting at federal elections was introduced in 1924.

Polling day is always on a Saturday. Polling places open between 8am and 6pm local time and are usually located in local schools, church halls or public buildings. There are a total of 7,723 polling booths across the country for the 2007 election.

A total of 1,421 candidates have nominated to run in the 2007 federal election. This national figure includes 367 Senate candidates for the 40 Senate vacancies and 1,054 candidates for the 150 House of Representatives seats across Australia, according to figures from Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).

A total of 13,645,073 Australians are eligible to vote on the election day on Saturday.

First votes were cast on Nov. 12 at a polling booth at Kybrook Farm in the Northern Territory. AEC officials set up the booth allowing surrounding residents to cast their votes at the remote location. Dozens of mobile polling teams were assigned to visit over 390 remote locations around Australia in the two weeks leading up to election day.