Iraqi Shias Call for Elections

The United States’ top civilian official in Iraq, Paul Bremer, has failed in a bid to win the support of Iraq’s supreme Shia religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, for a US-appointed political council to run Iraq.

Sources close to Ayatollah Sistani said Bremer’s request came in the form of an oral message carried to Sistani earlier this month by Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdish Democratic Party that controls half of the Kurdish region. The sources said Bremer asked Ayatollah Sistani to put forward names for the council, but Sistani refused. He insisted that any Iraqi council or authority should be elected - not appointed.

Ayatollah Sistani, who stayed in Najaf during Saddam Hussein's rule, wields considerable influence over Iraqi Shias, who comprise about 60 per cent of the country’s 26 million people. He does not advocate religious rule in Iraq and is considered a moderating influence at a time when Washington’s failure to form an Iraqi authority of any kind is fuelling radical sentiment in some sectors of the Shia community.

Barzani’s visit to Najaf came a few days after the occupation authorities announced they were abandoning their plan for an interim government selected by a national conference of Iraqis. They said they would instead appoint 25 to 30 "representative" Iraqis to an interim political council that would then nominate Iraqis to serve in senior ministry positions.

It was Barzani’s second trip to Najaf in 35 years and he was warmly welcomed by its residents. An old man stopped him during a visit to Imam Ali mosque and urged him to join forces with Iraqi Arabs to build a secure and prosperous Iraq. He reminded Barzani that a senior Shia leader, Ayatollah Mohsen al-Hakim, once refused an order by Saddam to issue a fatwa declaring that fighting against Kurds was not prohibited.

In a separate development, some 50 tribal leaders from the Najaf area last week sent a letter to Bremer in which they demanded free elections to a council to run Najaf. The letter was delivered to Bremer by Sayyed Mohammed Bahr al-Uluum, a senior Najaf cleric who is close to Ayatollah Sistani.

Najaf is currently being administered by a former Ba’athist intelligence officer, Abd al-Minem al-Sudani, who is rejected by the people but supported by the US.

Tribal leaders represent one of two centres of power in the Shia community, the other being the hawza or religious academy. The 50, who included lawyers and cultural figures, said al-Sudani had failed to deliver security or services. They said his past history as an agent of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath regime disqualified him from political office now.

After much popular protest, elections to decide on a replacement for al-Sudani were scheduled for June 5. They did not take place and no reason for the cancellation was given. The elections were then rescheduled for June 20, but once again were cancelled without explanation.

Mohammed Ali al-Hassani lives in Najaf.