Al-Sadr call for referendum further scrambles political jockeying for new government

Maneuvering in Iraq intensifies over who to lead

BAGHDAD — Political maneuvering in Iraq intensified on Wednesday with a powerful anti-American cleric calling for his supporters to vote on whom he should back, while the incumbent prime minister defended his challenges of the results.

The call by Muqtada al-Sadr further muddies the waters in what has already been a confusing election process beset with accusations of fraud on both sides as the factions haggle to form a government to lead the country as U.S. troops go home.

A coalition led by secular challenger Ayad Allawi, a Shiite who drew on deep Sunni support, narrowly eked out a two-seat lead over a bloc led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in results released last Friday.

Al-Sadr’s hardline, religious Shiite party, which won 39 of the 325 parliamentary seats in the March 7 election, has emerged as a key powerbroker whose support will prove crucial in determining which of the two leading blocs will form the next government.

While the Sadrists ostensibly belong to a Shiite religious bloc which has support al-Maliki in the past, they have a deep-rooted animosity for him after he jailed thousands of their supporters and routed their militias in Basra and eastern Baghdad.

So far they have opposed joining any coalition in which al-Maliki would be the prime minister.

The referendum would give the Sadrist leadership an excuse not to support al-Maliki and openly back another candidate under the guise of following the people’s will.

The poll is also another sign of the young cleric’s growing political clout within this Shiite-dominated country, and adds to the Sadrists’ appeal among many Iraqis frustrated with a political system in which much of the negotiations and decision-making happens behind closed doors.

A spokesman for al-Sadr, Salah al-Obeidi, said Wednesday that the referendum results would be binding on the party. The voting would be Friday and Saturday at al-Sadr offices, mosques and other sites across the country. Al-Sadr first called for the referendum Tuesday on his Web site.

People taking part in the poll would be allowed to choose from five candidates, including al-Maliki and Allawi and be allowed to write in someone of their choosing. Al-Obeidi said all Iraqis would be allowed to take part in the poll.

Meanwhile, al-Maliki defended his decision to challenge the election results, maintaing it was not an attempt to change the results.

“The aim is not to increase or decrease a seat, but to remove suspicion,” the prime minister said at a news confernece in Baghdad.

Al-Maliki has vociferously challenged the election and called for a recount. His bloc has submitted legal complaints as well.

His challenger Allawi, meanwhile, met with Iraq’s president, a Kurd, in an effort to shore up Kurdish support he would need to form a government.

Allawi said the meeting Wednesday was also designed to reduce tensions amid what has been a controversy-filled postelection period, and reasserted his bloc’s right to be the first to get a crack at forming a government under the constitution.