 Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, yesterday reiterated his support for the Unified Iraqi Alliance list which is widely expected to dominate the Jan. 30 general elections, one of his aides said. "Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani stresses the need to hold the elections at the scheduled date and confirms his support for list 169," said Sheikh Najah Al-Abbudi.
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He was referring to the Unified Iraqi Alliance, a grouping of major Shiite parties which was formed with Sistani's blessing and is headed by Abdel Aziz Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. "A war has been launched against this list, on the grounds that it includes all the currents and strata of Iraqi society," Abbudi said during a meeting of Sistani's representatives in Diwaniya, south of Baghdad. Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Accord party cried foul last week over the alleged use of religion in advertising by the front-running Shiite coalition. One pamphlet circulating in southern Shiite cities speaks of voting for the UIA as the will of the "Marjaya," a term used for Sistani and his group of elite clerics. The Iraqi Electoral Commission said it would look into the complaint. |