URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/383084.cms
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2003
AFP
Iraq's Shiite leader in talks with governing council on polls
NAJAF, Iraq : A six-member delegation from the US-installed Iraqi
Governing Council held talks on Thursday with Iraq 's most prominent
Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, on "new ideas" concerning
the organisation of general elections in the country.
"New ideas were mooted," council member Mohammed Bahr al-Olum said,
without elaborating.
Sistani for his part insisted on the "election of provisional national
assembly," spokesman Hamad al-Khafaf said.
Sistani has criticised the US-led coalition's schedule for its plan to
create a provisional Iraqi government through a series of formal
regional caucuses, rather than by holding general elections.
"Despite obstacles that have been raised, he would only renounce
elections if a UN technical team reaches the conclusion that it is
impossible to hold them and proposes another solution that would
guarantee a better representation of the Iraqi people," Sistani's
spokesman said.
Another council member Muaffaq al-Rubai said, "talks are continuing to
reach the best way of representing the Iraqi people."
The governing council signed a November 15 agreement with the US-led
coalition to transfer sovereignty to a transitional national assembly
by May 31, 2004.
General elections would not take place until March 2005, a date
Sistani has rejected as far too late.
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