Leader of Iraqi Shiite party gives boost to Allawi in race for prime minister

Leader of Iraqi Shiite party gives boost to Allawi

BAGHDAD — The secular front-runner in Iraq’s elections welcomed the support of a leading Iranian-linked Shiite party Friday while a powerful anti-U.S. cleric canvassed his followers in a poll that could set the stage for a turn against the incumbent prime minister.

The backing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council was the latest boost for Ayad Allawi, whose Iraqiya bloc has emerged as the front-runner to form a new government after parliamentary elections that left him just two seats ahead of al-Maliki’s mainly Shiite list.

SIIC leader Ammar Al-Hakim’s announced his party’s support for Allawi hours before followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr voted in an unofficial referendum on which candidate their movement should support.

Friday’s vote has no legal authority but could give the Sadrist leadership an excuse not to support al-Maliki and openly back another candidate under the guise of following what the people want.

The Sadrists and al-Hakim’s party are united under a Shiite religious umbrella known as the Iraqi National Alliance, which has emerged in a kingmaker position as the third-biggest winner in the March 7 vote, with a combined 70 seats in the 325-member parliament.

Both parties were long allied with al-Maliki but broke with the prime minister in recent years after he backed U.S.-Iraqi forces in offensives that routed the Sadrists and sought to distance himself from their hard-line religious stance.

Al-Hakim said his party, which has strong ties with Iran, said he was open to an alliance with Allawi’s Iraqiya list, a cross-sectarian grouping that drew on heavy Sunni support to eke out a two-seat lead over al-Maliki’s State of Law coalition.

That gave a pivotal role to the INA, particularly al-Sadr, whose supporters won at least 39 seats to become the largest bloc within the grouping.

“We will not participate in the next government without Allawi’s (Iraqiya Party slate),” al-Hakim said in remarks broadcast late Thursday.

He also rejected allegations that Allawi’s list had ties to Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated Baath party, an issue that has stoked sectarian tensions during political maneuvering before and after the elections.

“I can assure you that the Iraqiya list is not a Baathist one,” he told hundreds of loyalists during a meeting in Baghdad.

Allawi’s party warmly welcomed al-Hakim’s support, which Iraqiya spokesman Abdul Rahman al-Bayder said “will help build an authentic government.” He added that Iraqiya is “ready for a coalition that serves the political process and democracy.”

Al-Sadr, who is based in Iran, has withheld his backing from both big winners in the March 7 election, saying he wants his supporters to make the choice for him. The Shiite cleric’s endorsement would be a valuable prize for candidates scrambling to get enough parliamentary support to form a government.

His followers set up polling tents across Baghdad and other predominantly Shiite cities, drawing hundreds of people, some of them fingering prayer beads and holding umbrellas to shield them from the sun. Organizers expected to release results Sunday following two days of voting.

“We need security and support from the government,” said Sabah Hassan, 63, who said he hopes his vote Friday in Baghdad will help bring stability to Iraq after years of war. “The election process is the best thing in the world.”

Election workers acknowledged that only voters’ conscience stopped them from casting more than one ballot. At one largely deserted polling place in Baghdad, young children were seen filling out ballots.

Besides Allawi and al-Maliki, the other candidates on the ballot are: former prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, or Mohammed Jaffar al-Sadr who ran on al-Maliki’s list but has al-Sadr family ties. Voters also could write in another choice.

Nathan Freier, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said he believed al-Sadr’s party could be enticed to join al-Hakim in backing Allawi’s party.

“This presents an interesting and quite positive development for Iraq,” he said, noting that it could set the stage for a broad-based government that includes Iraq’s major Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish factions.

Associated Press writers Saad Abdul-Kadir, Bushra Juhi and Elizabeth A. Kennedy contributed to this report.