Iraq’s top Shiite cleric says no group will be excluded from new government

Top Shiite cleric in Iraq calls for unity

BAGHDAD — The leader of the Sunni-backed coalition that won the most seats in Iraq’s March election said the country’s most influential Shiite cleric assured him in a meeting Sunday that no group would be excluded from the new government.

There are concerns that Sunnis will be largely excluded after the two Shiite blocs that came in second and third in the parliamentary vote formed an alliance likely to lead to another Shiite-dominated government, much like the current one. The Iraqiya coalition, led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, is not part of the alliance.

Allawi met Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the holy city of Najaf, where the cleric lives. He said al-Sistani said the next government should serve without “excluding and marginalizing any group,” an apparent reference to minority Sunnis who have felt politically sidelined since 2003.

“Al-Sistani stressed national unity and … the importance of forming the government as soon as possible,” Allawi, a secular Shiite, told reporters after the meeting.

Allawi’s list won 91 of 325 seats to al-Maliki’s 89. For either to form a majority government, they need to partner with other parties.

Though more than two months have passed since the March 7 vote, the formation of the government has been slowed by a number of challenges by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who lost to Allawi by two seats. Al-Maliki demanded a recount, but it did not change the final result.

Iraqi election officials said Sunday that two candidates have appealed the recount results that cost them their seats. Their complaints will likely delay the certification of results by the Supreme Court, a crucial step to move the process of forming a government along.

The 83-year-old al-Sistani is revered by Iraq’s majority Shiites and carries great weight with Shiite politicians, who have dominated government since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that overthrew Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated regime.

His opinion on political matters is often sought by political leaders across the spectrum. Other influential figures, such as the U.N. representative in Iraq, also seek his counsel, but al-Sistani rarely intervenes openly or comments publicly on the political process.

A source who attended the meeting in Najaf said Allawi asked al-Sistani to support him to form the government because his bloc won the most seats. But al-Sistani said he could not help because it was a matter of interpreting the constitution. The source asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Under Iraq’s constitution, the largest bloc should get the first crack at forming the government. Allawi maintains that this is his right. But the Shiite alliance now claims it is the largest bloc and should form the government.

Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, another Iraqiya politician who was at the meeting, said al-Sistani told them he has “no veto” over who will be in the next government.

Al-Sistani’s office declined to comment on the meeting.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said in an interview published Sunday that the Shiite clergy in Najaf and in neighboring Iran have been pressuring Shiite politicians to align their positions and work for national unity with Sunnis and Kurds.

“Pressure to unite the Shiites is coming from the Shiite religious leadership in Najaf and Iran,” Talabani said in the interview with London-based newspaper Sharq al-Awsat.