Enlarge By Hadi Mizban, AP Young Iraqis blanket a wall with campaign posters in Baghdad as nationwide elections approach Jan. 31. About 14,300 candidates are up for 440 legislative seats.

Questionable tactics have included vandalizing rivals' posters, voter intimidation and disobeying a law that prohibits using religious identification to win votes, according to the U.S. military and the Iraqi election commission.

Qassim Sachhit, a commission member, would not name parties or candidates that have broken rules, but he said the commission has levied fines ranging from $88 to $43,000 against campaigns for various campaign violations.

"To be frank, there is still not enough legal coverage of the political process in Iraq," Sachhit said.

Much is at stake in the Jan. 31 election, in which about 14,300 candidates are vying for 440 seats in provincial legislatures. The vote will mark the first nationwide election in Iraq since 2005, and it comes at a crucial moment as the U.S. begins to accelerate its transition out of Iraq.

The campaign has seen some violence, including the killing of two candidates. Most other problems have involved a disregard for campaign rules that would not be out of place in many other young democracies — and a murkier category of offenses in which Iraq's religious and political lives converge.

Mindful of the violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that killed tens of thousands of people from 2004-07, Iraq's electoral commission has attempted to keep religion as distant from the election process as possible. In reality, many of Iraq's most prominent political parties are tied to a religious sect, and most of the powerful politicians' support comes from Iraqis who share their confessional identity.

For example, Shiite pilgrims who walked through Baghdad last week en route to the southern city of Karbala to commemorate the martyrdom of seventh-century Imam Hussein were greeted with handmade signs that connected certain Shiite slates with important religious figures.

At campaign rallies for the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, supporters have held up large portraits of the party's political leader beside photographs of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the pre-eminent Shiite cleric.

Faraj al-Haydari, the chairman of the election commission, said he met with al-Sistani, who made it clear he doesn't "support any political entity or candidate."

The election commission also has received complaints that surrogates for some candidates are handing out cash, phone cards and other household goods in exchange for support for their candidate or party, Sachhit said.

It remains unclear whether such tactics are effective. In Baghdad's Shiite Karradadistrict, several patrons of Qais al-Shara's barbershop laughed about how they were offered kebabs in exchange for support for a minor candidate.

Al-Shara said he will vote for a candidate he believes is competent and will deliver services.

"I will not trust any candidates like these," said al-Shara, referring to the candidates offering handouts. "These sorts are all thieves."

Contributing: Khalid D. Ali