The local and European elections will be held on June 11th next year, the Minister for the Environment said yesterday.
Mr Cullen said the poll, which will take place from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on a Friday, will be the first to be carried out entirely on the electronic voting system.
With Fianna Fáil under pressure in a string of opinion polls, the elections are already being seen as a crucial test for the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.
After losing seats in the last local election, the PDs will be hoping to capitalise on their success in the general election last year.
The elections will also be seen as a judgment on the efforts of the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, to revitalise his party after its disastrous general election result. It will be the first election for Labour under the leadership of Mr Pat Rabbitte.
The Greens and Sinn Féin will be hoping to capitalise on their increased Dáil presence.
Selection conventions are already under way, and all parties will use the campaign for the 289 local constituencies and four European constituencies to prepare the ground for the next general election.
Mr Cullen encouraged people to register to vote and said the new register of electors would be published on February 1st, 2004.
He identified May 24th as the deadline for applications to the supplementary register of electors. Applications should be made to the county council or city council where an applicant is resident.
Labour has said that Fianna Fáil's decision to appoint Mr Cullen as head of its local election campaign created an unacceptable conflict of interest because he was the Minister responsible for deciding the date of the election and polling stations' opening hours.
