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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch
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To: lurqer who wrote (34709)1/11/2004 9:41:56 AM
From: Rick Faurot  Read Replies (3) of 89467
 
Iraq's Top Shi'ite Cleric Sticks to Election Demand
Sun January 11, 2004 09:07 AM ET
(Page 1 of 2)
By Khaled Farhan
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's most revered Shi'ite leader insisted Sunday that democratic elections must he held within months, denting U.S. hopes of winning his crucial backing for Washington's roadmap for handing back sovereignty to Iraqis.
Officials from the U.S.-appointed Governing Council went to the Shi'ite Muslim city of Najaf Sunday to meet Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and try to persuade him to back the U.S. plan.
Under the plan, regional caucuses will select a transitional Iraqi assembly by the end of May, and the assembly will select an interim government that will take over sovereignty by the end of June. Full elections and a constitution will follow in 2005.
Sistani wants the transitional assembly to be directly elected, and is not backing down from his stance. If he does not back the U.S. roadmap, many of Iraq's majority Shi'ites may well refuse to accept the process.
"The ideal mechanism for this is elections which a number of experts confirm can be held within coming months with an acceptable degree of credibility and transparency," Sistani's office quoted him as telling the Governing Council delegation.
"If the transitional assembly is formed by a mechanism that doesn't have the necessary legitimacy then it wouldn't be possible for the government to perform a useful function...New problems will arise as a result of this that will only worsen the tensions in the political and security situation."

continues...
reuters.com
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