IRAQ: Iraq's top Shia religious leader hinted in an interview published yesterday that he would allow a delay to elections, in line with a UN verdict that ruled out polls before the end of US-led occupation in June.
But Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, widely seen as holding the key to Iraq's political future, said any delay should be brief and any interim government should have limited authority.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has sided with the United States, saying elections in Iraq before the political transfer of power on June 30th were not feasible. He also said the date for restoring sovereignty that Washington wants "must be respected".
Ayatollah Sistani told Germany's Der Spiegel that an interim government should be charged only with running the day-to-day affairs of the state in the run-up to quick elections. "This institution should not be able to take political decisions which affect the future of our country," he told the magazine. "Such decisions should only be taken by a government formed from free elections." Asked how long polls should be delayed, he said: "It should not last long." The ayatollah usually does not grant face-to-face interviews but his office presents his answers to written questions. It was not clear when the interview was conducted.
Mr Hamid al-Khaffaf, a Lebanon-based senior aide to Ayatollah Sistani, said the cleric would declare his final position after Mr Annan presents a report soon, giving a timeframe for future elections.
Mr Khaffaf said one of the ideas being looked at was transferring power to an appointed body with limited authority, such as the US-appointed Governing Council, to prepare for elections before the end of the year. "The condition attached to this would be a Security Council resolution that would cover these points," Mr Khaffaf said.
Original US plans for the handover, involving regional caucuses choosing an assembly that would select a government, were derailed after Ayatollah Sistani demanded early direct elections.
The Bush administration, which is trying to re-engage the United Nations in efforts to stabilise the country, had asked the world body to come up with proposals for Iraq's political future before and after the June 30th transfer of power.
Mr Annan is prepared to send his top adviser, Mr Lakhdar Brahimi, back to Baghdad to help form an interim government if Iraqi leaders could not agree how to do it, UN officials said.