Word: sistani
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...cast one vote. This list comprises 75 parties, 9 coalitions and 27 individuals. It ranges from mega coalitions like the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), comprising the major Shiite religious parties and scores of independents grouped together on a single slate at the discreet behest of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, to individuals who have put their own names on the form in the hope they can achieve the approximately 44,000 votes nationwide that will be needed to gain a seat in the 275-member National Assembly...
...campaign may be offset by their survival instinct. But the circumstances in which the election will be held may be less of a problem for the Shiite UIA list than for most others. It has the advantage of clerical backing and association with Grand Ayatollah Sistani, the supreme spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiite majority, who has declared it a religious duty to go to the polls (an act that for many Iraqis will require considerable physical courage). The list's grounding in the most popular Shiite parties (the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and the Dawa...
...discreet State Department poll recently found only 12 percent of Sunnis believe the poll will be legitimate or fair. Aware of the danger of escalating a sectarian civil war, leaders of the Shiite alliance have identified reaching out to the Sunnis as a top priority after the election. A Sistani aide told an Arab newspaper last weekend that the Grand Ayatollah believed "the representation of our Sunni brethren in a new government would have to be effective regardless of the results of the election." He also mentioned that a new government would have the standing to demand a U.S. withdrawal...
...being asked to choose from largely anonymous slates sponsored by different factions. These slates politick via posters adorning the innumerable concrete barriers that define Baghdad's traffic arteries. Voters are urged, for instance, to pick List No. 169, the one approved by the umbrageous Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani. Candidates do little flesh pressing and baby kissing, but there are ads on TV and radio, and each party has its own newspaper...
...interim government, before getting down to the task of drafting a new constitution within nine months. And the strongest electoral slate right now looks to be the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of Shiite religious parties and independents assembled under the discreet auspices of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani (who has also declared voting a religious duty for Iraq's Muslim faithful). While some leaders of that slate sought this week to assuage Sunni and U.S. fears over their ties to Iran - and their desire to avert a civil war and hold Iraq together strongly suggests they'll avoid mimicking Iran...