Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to call the general election for May 6, the BBC reports.
Later today he is expected to go to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament.
On returning from the Palace he is expected to formally confirm the date and make a speech at Downing Street.
Key battlegrounds in the election will be the economy, taxation and public services.
In Caerphilly County Borough battle lines have already been drawn in what effectively will be a two horse race between Plaid Cymru and Labour.
In the Caerphilly constituency, Plaid Cymru council leader Lindsay Whittle is facing off against incumbent Labour MP Wayne David.
In Islwyn, Plaid’s Steffan Lewis will be fighting it out with Labour candidate Chris Evans, the parliamentary researcher of outgoing MP Don Touhig, who after 13 years is retiring.
The election is set to be played out online with Twitter and Facebook expected to play a large part in campaigning as well as traditional canvassing.
A new online project called democracyclub.org.uk has been set up to try and gather as much information about the election as possible from the general public.
Readers will be able to help others keep tabs on the candidates by uploading contact details of those who are standing and their election pamphlets.