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Shiite cleric with links to Iran tops Iraqi election list
A cleric with links to Iran leads the candidate list of a powerful coalition of Iraq's mainstream Shiite groups for next month's election, an aide said Friday.
Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim - the head of Iraq's largest Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) - would stand to take a central position in the assembly that will create Iraq's next government and constitution, if the coalition takes most Parliament seats in the Jan. 30 vote.
Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim - the head of Iraq's largest Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) - would stand to take a central position in the assembly that will create Iraq's next government and constitution, if the coalition takes most Parliament seats in the Jan. 30 vote.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari denied in remarks published Friday that Iran was trying to influence Iraqi elections with the aim of creating a "crescent" dominated by Shiites in the region.
"We have been assured by the Iranians they will not interfere in Iraq's domestic affairs," he said in response to comments published Wednesday by King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Abdullah told The Washington Post Iran sought to influence Iraqi elections to create a "crescent" dominated by Shiites extending from Iraq to Lebanon.
A SCIRI senior official on Friday denounced the claim.
"Some Arab leaders pressure their peoples (by saying) the success of the elections will benefit the Shiites, this means (Iran)," the cleric, Sadreddine al-Qobanji, told a crowd of 2,000 people gathered at the al-Fatimiyya Mosque in Najaf.
Qobanji said some people fear Shiites seek to dominate the post-election government, but called such fears "illusory."
Shiites on Thursday unveiled a broad electoral alliance. The 228-strong list, backed by the Shiites' highest religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, includes no major Sunni political movements and excludes firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The coalition's platform, which has not been finished, will include a call for working toward the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops in Iraq, members said.
"There must be a timetable for this," said Hussein al-Mousawi, an official of the Shiite Political Council, an umbrella group that has some parties represented in the alliance.
Hakim was the longtime head of SCIRI's armed wing, the Badr Brigades, which was based in Iran during the Saddam Hussein's rule. Hakim returned to Iraq after Saddam's fall and took up the leadership of SCIRI after his brother, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, was killed in a car bomb last year.
Iraq's electoral commission, meanwhile, postponed until Dec. 15 the deadline for parties to present their list of election candidates. The original deadline was the end of Friday, but several political movements asked for more time.
Read More
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=10917
"We have been assured by the Iranians they will not interfere in Iraq's domestic affairs," he said in response to comments published Wednesday by King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Abdullah told The Washington Post Iran sought to influence Iraqi elections to create a "crescent" dominated by Shiites extending from Iraq to Lebanon.
A SCIRI senior official on Friday denounced the claim.
"Some Arab leaders pressure their peoples (by saying) the success of the elections will benefit the Shiites, this means (Iran)," the cleric, Sadreddine al-Qobanji, told a crowd of 2,000 people gathered at the al-Fatimiyya Mosque in Najaf.
Qobanji said some people fear Shiites seek to dominate the post-election government, but called such fears "illusory."
Shiites on Thursday unveiled a broad electoral alliance. The 228-strong list, backed by the Shiites' highest religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, includes no major Sunni political movements and excludes firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The coalition's platform, which has not been finished, will include a call for working toward the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops in Iraq, members said.
"There must be a timetable for this," said Hussein al-Mousawi, an official of the Shiite Political Council, an umbrella group that has some parties represented in the alliance.
Hakim was the longtime head of SCIRI's armed wing, the Badr Brigades, which was based in Iran during the Saddam Hussein's rule. Hakim returned to Iraq after Saddam's fall and took up the leadership of SCIRI after his brother, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, was killed in a car bomb last year.
Iraq's electoral commission, meanwhile, postponed until Dec. 15 the deadline for parties to present their list of election candidates. The original deadline was the end of Friday, but several political movements asked for more time.
Read More
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=10917
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