Canadians are going to the polling stations on Monday to choose the country's 39th parliament and its new government.

The following are some key facts and figures about Canada's general election, the second within two years.

Constituencies: Like other former British colonies including Australia and New Zealand, Canada has a parliamentary system modeled on the British parliament. Canada is divided into 308 electoral constituencies. Election winners will sit in the House of Commons. The prime minister is the head of the leading party in Parliament.

Parties: There are four parties with seats in Parliament: the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the separatist Bloc Quebecois and the New Democratic Party. Elections Canada's website lists eight more registered parties, including the Green Party which stresses environmental protection.

Campaigns: Elections are called for when the prime minister chooses or when he loses the confidence of Parliament. By convention, the prime minister calls an election in the fourth year of his mandate, even if he is officially elected for five years. The Governor General, the Queen's symbolic representative in Canada, dissolves Parliament and an election date is set at least 36 days thereafter. Elections are traditionally held on Mondays, unless there is a holiday, in which case they are held on the following Tuesday.

Winners: Canada uses a system known as "first past the post." The candidate with the most votes in each constituency wins. If the leading candidates are separated by less than one one-thousandth of the total vote, a judicial recount is triggered. There were six judicial recounts in the 2004 election. If two candidates have the same number of votes after the judicial recount, a by-election is set up.

Government: If one party wins an outright majority in the Commons, 155 seats or more, it forms the government. If no party has a majority, the previous governing party can attempt to govern with the support of other parties. If it can't, the party with the most seats will form the government. The ruling Liberals won 135 seats in the June 2004 election, the Conservatives got 99, the Bloc Quebecois, 54, and the NDP, 19.

Minority Government: A government lacking a majority, like the incumbent Liberal Party, must get support from other parties to get bills passed. While some parties have collaborated on a continuing basis, such as the Liberals and the NDP in the 1970s, historically, there have been no formal coalitions in Canada. A minority government can be toppled by opposition parties on so-called confidence votes: the speech of the throne, in which the prime minister details his plans for the coming year, the budget, or any other bill deemed to be of confidence by the government. Opposition parties can also bring forward no-confidence motions periodically. Of the nine minority governments Canada has had, only one lasted to the mid-point of its five-year electoral mandate. The last minority government, before the current one, was in 1979 and it fell after nine months.

Voters: Canadian citizens over the age of 18 can vote on the day. Among those barred from standing for Parliament are members of a provincial or territorial legislature, prisoners, police officers, and federally appointed judges.

Turnout: The Electoral Commission said 60.9 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in 2004, the lowest level in Canada's history.

Ballot: Canada uses a uniform paper ballot across the country. Voters mark their choice by an 'X' or a '+.'

Source: Xinhua