Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims have announced a broadly-based alliance ahead of next month's key elections, which is backed by their highest religious leader but excludes radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The United Iraqi Alliance groups the Dawa Party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress. But Sadr, whose militia battled US-led forces in Baghdad and Najaf before calling a truce, is not on the 228-strong list backed by Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani.| Sucks to be you, Tater. And you could have been a contender |
"It contains parties and political currents as well as independent figures of different confessions and ethnic groups and takes into consideration the demographic and geographic balance in Iraq," Dawa's Ali Adib said. The list also contains Sunnis, Yazidis, and Faili (Shiite) Kurds. Iraqis are to elect 275 members of a national assembly in the vote planned for January 30, the country's first free and multi-party polls in half a century. Representatives of Iraq's influential Shiite religious organisations have vehemently opposed calls by some parties for the vote to be postponed over security concerns. Ayatollah Sistani is one of the most powerful and popular figures in the country and commentators say any list endorsed by him should stand a good chance in the polls. |