What is Sistani's position on the Iraqi elections?
Iraq’s top Shiite religious authority is not endorsing any political party in the upcoming elections and urges voters not to vote for corruption and past failure.
The prominent and key role played by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in formulating the general framework of the Iraqi regime after 2003 is no secret. He insisted that Iraqis write the constitution, demanded that the state hire people by democratic mechanisms and insisted on holding elections as soon as possible.
Sistani also played a prominent role in shaping the general political landscape in Iraq in the last 10 years. He contributed to forming the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), which gathered the Shiite voice within a unified political framework but without taking the side of one sect against another. Sistani also helped overcome the obstacles in the internal relations among the INA’s components and also in its relations with other electoral lists. This led other political components to directly or indirectly communicate with him to get help in resolving the problems with their competitors, in particular the INA.
