Shias Want UN Decision on Elections

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http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/00E38332-2204-4454-83BE-DFCA9AE18A68.htm

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Grand Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's highest-ranking Shia cleric, wants the United Nations to rule if early elections can take place in the country, in a new embarrassment to the US occupation authorities.

Washington, which has decreed a lengthy delay before proper elections are held in 2005, can ill-afford to snub the religious leader of Iraq's majority community.

"Ayat Allah Sistani maintains his call for elections in Iraq unless a neutral UN committee, appointed by Secretary General Kofi Annan, visits Iraq and reaches the conclusion that in the current circumstances it is technically and politically impossible to hold general elections," said interim Governing Council member Muwaffak al-Rubaie

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We did not reach an agreement on this question and discussions are continuing between the Governing Council and the Marjaiya" (Shia leadership), Rubaie told reporters.

He met Sistani for three hours along with Ahmad Chalabi, another Governing Council member who is also a Shia, but Sistani threw out their proposal for a referendum, Rubaie added.

"We put forward a compromise proposal: the appointment of a
committee of 100-150 people from all political currents in Iraq, including those not represented on the council."