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BAGHDAD, Dec 9: Iraq's Shia parties on Thursday unveiled a slate of candidates for the election campaign with a coalition of 22 parties and groups, to be called the United Iraqi Alliance.
Formed under the auspices of the country's most influential religious figure, Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, the alliance also involves figures from other sectarian and ethnic groups.
Iraqi and US officials admitted, on a day that saw only limited attacks on their forces, that despite a major offensive on Fallujah last month there was no way to prevent bloodshed during the election campaign.
But interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi disowned a suggestion that the Jan 30 vote might in fact be spread over several days or weeks to allow people to cast their ballots in more safety.
Citing a UN deadline of the end of January for electing a national assembly, aides said Mr Allawi had been misquoted by a Swiss newspaper and said: "The Iraqi government ... is very well aware of the importance of holding elections on time." The US-backed interim president complained Syria was helping former allies of Saddam Hussein to foment rebellion but expressed confidence the attempt would fail.
ELECTION UNDER GUARD: Presenting the alliance at a news conference in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone government and diplomatic compound was Hussain al Shahristani, a widely respected scientist jailed by Saddam Hussein for refusing to work on a nuclear weapons programme.
"This is a united list, representing all Iraqis, not just Shias," he said. The intense security around the news conference is a mark of the conditions in which any campaign will be fought in much of the country, especially Baghdad, and the "Sunni belt" to the north and west.
Two big Shia religious parties, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and Dawa, lead the bloc. Ahmad Chalabi, a secular Shia and former US favourite who heads the Iraqi National Congress, also has a prominent role.
Representatives of Moqtada al Sadr, a young firebrand who has led two uprisings against US forces, are also in the coalition. Sadr and his chief aides are, however, not on the list of 228 candidates, a third of whom are women.
Among others on the list are the chief of the big, mainly Sunni Arab Shamar tribe from around the restive northern city of Mosul, where the resistance has flourished in recent weeks. The chief is a cousin of interim President Ghazi al Yawar.
Parties representing Sunnis had urged a delay in the vote or even a boycott. Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffaq al Rubaie said it would be "impossible" to guarantee security for the election. -Reuters
