Shi’ite cleric backs coalition to contest poll

A SHI’ITE official yesterday announced a 228-candidate coalition backed by leading Shi’ite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to contest Iraq’s January 30 elections.

The coalition, called the United Iraqi Alliance, includes two major Shi’ite political parties - the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Dawa Party - and the Iraqi National Congress, led by former exile and one-time Pentagon favourite Ahmad Chalabi, Dawa party official Ali al-Adeeb said.

Independent Sunni Muslims belonging to various tribal groups are included on the list, but no major Sunni political movements are named.

In the first popular vote since Saddam’s ousting, Iraqis will choose a 275-member assembly that will write a permanent constitution.

If adopted in a referendum next year, the constitution would form the legal basis for another general election to be held by December 15.

Under an election law adopted this year, there will be no electoral boundaries for the January vote, with the entire country treated as a single constituency.

Major parties representing Iraq’s 20% minority Sunnis have called for the vote’s postponement because they say the country is not secure enough.

Sunni clerics from the Association of Muslim Scholars urged Sunnis to boycott the election to protest against last month’s US-led assault on Fallujah.

The influential religious group reiterated its call for Sunnis to boycott the polls, describing as “madness” plans to hold them in January.

Iranian-born cleric al-Sistani has been working to unite Iraq’s majority Shi’ites ahead of the vote to ensure victory, plus include representatives from Iraq’s other diverse communities.

Al-Sistani has been overseeing the work of top aides to compile the list for the national elections, in which Shi’ite parties are expected to perform strongly.