Iraq's most influential Shia figure, Grand Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani, has told believers to vote in elections on 15 December, urging them to support religious candidates. The instructions from al-Sistani, a reclusive spiritual figure with a strong influence among the Shia, fall short of a religious edict, but still carry tremendous weight. It could dent the hopes of Iyad Allawi, a former prime minister whose secular Shia non-sectarian party is mounting a challenge to the ruling coalition.A representative in al-Sistani's office on Saturday said he instructed followers to do three things: turn out to vote on the day; avoid voting for any list whose leader is not religious; and avoid voting for "weak" lists so as not to split the Shia vote. The instructions looked like a coded endorsement of the United Iraqi Alliance, the main Shia list which won the last election in January and dominates the current government. The United Iraqi Alliance groups Iraq's two most powerful religious Shia parties - the pro-Iranian Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), and the Dawa party, which is headed by Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the prime minister.