Reclusive cleric major electoral force

IRAQ: There is one man not standing in Iraq's national elections but whose power over large swathes of the country is absolute…

IRAQ: There is one man not standing in Iraq's national elections but whose power over large swathes of the country is absolute.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the Shi'ite clerical leader, insists he wants no political role in the future government of Iraq.

But rather like another absentee from Sunday's ballot - militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - Sistani is set to wield massive influence in the newly elected Iraq, although for very different reasons.

For millions of the country's Shi'ite community, Sistani's words have the force of law, governing every detail of their personal and public lives.

READ MORE

The cleric's repeated calls for elections after the US-led invasion brought tens of thousands of Iraqis out on the streets to protest and ultimately forced the American administration to scupper its handover plans, and grant a ballot two years earlier than planned.

Now Sistani has given his backing to the United Iraqi Alliance, the main Shi'ite list running for office, which, along with a fatwa calling on all Shi'ite to vote, virtually guarantees its electoral success.

The Alliance has been quick to capitalise on Sistani's support, flooding Baghdad and Shi'ite towns to the south with election posters bearing the cleric's black-turbaned head, and full white beard.

In recent days, the posters have been replaced with ones bearing more secular images - but the impact of Sistani's approval has already been immense.

Despite Sistani's insistence to the contrary, the boundaries between religion and politics in Iraq have become increasingly blurred.

"I think Sistani is running for president" said one bemused shopkeeper in Baghdad who arrived at his shop earlier this week to find it plastered with posters bearing the cleric's visage.

But beyond electoral success for Iraq's Shi'ite majority, it is not entirely clear what Sistani wants from the new government.

The 74-year-old cleric is famously reclusive, rarely giving interviews or leaving his headquarters amid the winding streets of the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf.

Sistani was born in Mashad, Iran - although his aides like to play down Sistani's links with his country of birth.

They say that after spending most of his life studying Islamic science in Najaf, Sistani has developed a "quietist" school of thought diametrically opposed to the Iranian model of theocratic rule by the country's clergy.

His aides say that Sistani sees his role as a defender of the Shi'ite faith. "Sistani does not like to impose himself on the Iraqi government, except where it is important to safeguard the conservative and Islamic nature of the state," said Sheikh Jalel Addin al-Saghir, Sistani's top representative in Baghdad.

That means, said Saghir, that the constitution drawn up by the new government must be based on Islamic law. "Iraq's constitution must be founded in the traditions. Sistani believes it should not oppose the principles of Islam," said Sheikh al-Saghir.

Such a message is, at least for the time being, at odds with the political leadership of the Alliance.