LEADING IRAQI RELIGIOUS LEADERS CALLS FOR DIRECT ELECTIONS
BAGHDAD, 27 Nov. (IPS) Two senior Iraqi clerics from the Shiite majority called for general elections to and an elected Iraqi administration independent from the American Administration led by Mr. Paul Bremmer, Mr. Jalal Talabani, chairman of the US-backed Governing Council announced.
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani
(the highest authority for the Iraqi Shi’ites) wants full elections for all Iraqi administrative and political bodies to be formed in the future", Mr. Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of (Iraqi) Kurdistan was quoted by the French news agency AFP as having told reporters.
"Ayatollah Sistani wants the Iraqi people to be consulted. He wants elections to be held for the municipal councils as well as the legislative council", Mr. Talabani said, explaining that this is the "one reservation" the Grand Ayatollah has with the agreement, signed by the interim Governing Council and the US-led authority on November 15 for the transfer of political power to Iraqis.
"All that Grand Ayatollah Sistani wants is that the Administration must represent truly the people of Iraq and be based on Islam and Sh’ia principles", Ayatollah Abdolqasem Dibaji, the Representative of Mr. Sistani in Kuwait told the Persian service of Radio France International on Thursday.
Talabani said a reference to Islam has been restored, but gave no details.
According to Mr. Talabani, who was talking to reporters after a meeting with Sistani in the holy city of Najaf, there are no difference of views between the present American-installed Iraqi Provisory Council and the Grand Ayatollah, who is the most senior Shi’ite cleric among the five living grand ayatollahs in Iraq.
The regional caucuses would have 15-member organizing committees, five of them named by the Governing Council, five by provincial governments and one each by the five largest local councils in any province. Like the Governing Council, the U.S.-led coalition or local American commanders have handpicked most provincial governments and local councils.
"Despite the lack of a reliable census in Iraq, elections can still be held on the basis of the food ration cards distributed to the population under the ousted regime of Saddam Hoseyn and that are still in use", said Talabani, quoting Mr. Sistani.
The Council and the U.S.-led coalition will discuss the cleric’s demands for average Iraqis to have a direct role in selecting a transitional legislature, Talabani added.
Talabani, who signed the transition plan as head of the Governing Council on 15 November travelled to this holy city to meet with al-Sistani after the cleric's views were reported by Hojjatoleslam Abdolaziz Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI), another member of the Provisory Council.
Under the plan, regional caucuses attended by politicians and selected scholars, professionals, tribal chiefs, legal experts and other prominent people would choose members of the transitional assembly.
Earlier, Hojjatoleslam Hakim had quoted Mr. Sistani as having stated that the present American plan for the transfer of powers to the Iraqis does not answer Iraqi people’s demands.
According to Mr. Hakim, Grand Ayatollah Sistani argued that since the the present members of the Provisory Council are named by the Americans, they could not be considered as representatives of the Iraqi people.
Hakim told reporters Wednesday that Sistani expressed "deep concern over real loopholes" in the power-transfer plan. Unless those objections are dealt with, "the process will be deficient and fail to meet the expectations of the people of Iraq".
"One of al-Sistani's main demands is for voters to directly elect a transitional national legislature", he pointed out, adding that Sistani also wants an interim constitution to be drafted by the Governing Council to guarantee Iraq's "Islamic identity."
"The plan worked out by (the American Governor of Iraq Paul) Bremer in Washington is aimed at the formation of an Iraqi Administration that safeguards American Interests while Sistani and other Shi’a and even Sunni religious leaders wants real democratic elections, an event the Americans don’t want", observed Mr. Hasam Hashemian, a professor of international politics at Tehran University.
"It would be very difficult for the Americans to oppose Grand Ayatollah Sistani because he is respected by all Iraqis, being Kurd, Sunni, Arab, Christian or Shi’ite", he added in an interview with RFI.
A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad declined to comment, saying U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer had no wish "to negotiate in public." Speaking on condition of anonymity, the spokesman said the plan is a "framework" for which "a lot of difficult details must still be worked out".
Shi’ite leaders are eager to quickly translate their community's position as Iraq's majority into formal political power. Shiites have been marginalized for generations by Sunni Muslims, who dominated Iraq during Ottoman rule, British colonialism and then Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s reign.
The power-shifting plan calls for the assembly to elect a provisional government that would take power by first of July 2004 and general election would be held no later than 15 March 2005, and a permanent constitution be drafted and adopted before the end of that year. ENDS IRAQI AYATOLLAHS PG 271103