Somalia's MPs are meeting in neighbouring Djibouti to elect a new president of the transitional government.
According to the country's transitional charter, a new president should be elected within 30 days following the resignation of the president in office.
However, MPs voted to extend the deadline by up to five days, meaning the ballot is now scheduled to be held by 2 February.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian troops supporting the government have left the country - and Islamist fighters have seized Baidoa, home of the Somali parliament.
Baidoa was one of the few regions where the government had any effective control. Some reports say the Islamists have now taken over the town's presidential palace.
Why are elections being held now?
On 29 December 2008 President Abdullahi Yusuf resigned after parliament refused to back his sacking of Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, more popularly known as Nur Adde. The MPs voted instead to impeach Mr Yusuf as an obstacle to peace.
President Yusuf was an ally of neighbouring Ethiopia - one of Somalia's traditional enemies - and a staunch opponent of Somalia's Islamists.
He opposed Nur Adde in a power struggle over the composition of the government, and Nur Adde's attempts to engage with moderate Islamists.
He was also accused of favouring his own clan, the Darod, over Mogadishu's dominant Hawiye - Nur Adde's clan.
President Yusuf's popularity among the international community waned when he was seen to be obstructing efforts to push through the Djibouti peace agreement, signed by a moderate wing of the Islamist Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) in August 2008.
The agreement calls for the formation of a unity government.
Why are the elections being held in Djibouti?
Elections are being held outside the country because of insecurity in Somalia. This will also allow the moderate wing of the ARS, which is Djibouti-based, to take part in the process.
In line with the Djibouti peace agreement, MPs voted on 26 January to double the number of seats in parliament from 275 to include Islamists and civil society.
The ARS will have 200 of the new seats, and 75 civil society members will take up the rest.
The expanded parliament will choose the new president.
Who are the main contenders?
Nur Hassan Hussein (Nur Adde)
He is the current prime minister. Observers of the Somali political scene say Nur Adde is the one member of the government capable of attracting international support for the country. He is reported to have the backing of the United States.
Nur Adde is from the Abgaal sub-clan of the Hawiye, one of Somalia's four most powerful clans. He was the country's chief police officer in charge of planning and training under President Muhammad Siad Barre, whose regime collapsed in 1991, leaving the country in anarchy for more than a decade.
After law studies at Mogadishu National University and Fiscal Law School in Rome, Nur Adde became attorney-general, a post he held until 1991. He then served as secretary-general of the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS), a post which gained him wide respect.
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad is the leader of the moderate Djibouti-based wing of the Islamist ARS. He is also a member of the Abgaal clan. He was chairman of the Islamic Courts' Union which ran Mogadishu in 2006, until it was ousted by Ethiopian troops.
He says he wants to make peace with Ethiopia, recruit Islamist militia fighters into a national security force, and rebuild the country's social services.
He told Reuters news agency that he was prepared to discuss any political or religious issues with insurgents still fighting in Somalia.
Ali Mohammed Ghedi
Ali Mohammed Ghedi was Somalia's prime minister from 2004 to 2007. He was relatively unknown in political circles upon his appointment.
Like Nur Adde and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, he is also from the Abgaal sub-clan of the Hawiye. He was portrayed as a man with a "clean slate" who could foster reconciliation between the country's warring clans.
Mr Ghedi was unable to end the long-running civil war during his three-year stint.
Mr Ghedi announced his resignation in October 2007, citing differences with President Yusuf. He remains a member of parliament.
What about the Islamists?
Hardline Islamists groups continue their militant activity outside the political process.
These including al-Shabab, which is on Washington's list of foreign terrorist groups, and the Asmara wing of the ARS, based in the Eritrean capital under the leadership of Sheikh Hasan Dahir Aweys.
They have vowed to continue fighting to remove Ugandan and Burundian African Union peacekeepers from Somalia and install Sharia law across the country.
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