Top Shiite cleric urges Iraqis to vote on Jan. 31

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-19 21:41

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric on Monday called on Iraqis to go to the polls in this month's elections but stressed he was not supporting any particular candidates.

A policeman stands guard near residents looking at a burnt vehicle at the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad January 19, 2009. The roadside bomb killed an off-duty police officer and wounded seven people in Zaafaraniya district of southeast of Baghdad on Monday, police said. [Agencies]

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani enjoys massive support among Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims, and his statement appeared designed to distance himself from religious parties trying to create the impression they have his support.

"The religious leadership stands an equal distance away from all candidates in these elections, but it stresses at the same time that voters must, after thorough checks and examination, choose those who are worthy of becoming members of provincial councils," he said.

He said worthy candidates must be efficient, honest and sincere.

The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Iraq's largest Shiite party, has in past elections used al-Sistani's image on campaign posters to rally the cleric's supporters to its cause. But the use of religious symbols or sites in campaigning has been banned in the upcoming provincial elections.

Voters are set to choose members of ruling councils in 14 of the 18 provinces on Jan. 31. More than 14,000 candidates are running for 444 council seats.

The US military has warned that insurgents are expected to step up attacks in the days surrounding the vote, and sporadic elections-related violence has been reported.

A roadside bomb struck a crew of Iraqis putting up posters for a Shiite candidate late Sunday in eastern Baghdad, wounding eight people.

Latif Abu Mohammed, a 37-year-old construction worker who was wounded in his chest and leg, said the crew had been waiting until nightfall to put up campaign posters to avoid being spotted by rival parties.

He said the workers had hung about 12 posters before the blast occurred.

"We are construction workers hired by a candidate to put his portraits on walls. We have nothing to do with politics," he said. "Last week we did the same work twice for the same candidate in Sadr City and nothing happened to us."

In other violence, a bomb attached to a car exploded Monday in a mainly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, killing a police officer who was on his way to work at a passport office and wounding seven other people, police and hospital officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.