Sistani voices concerns about Iraq vote

NYT:

...Ayatollah Sistani is concerned that the nascent democratic process here is falling under the control of a handful of the largest political parties, which cooperated with the American occupation and are comprised largely of exiles.

In particular, these sources say, Ayatollah Sistani is worried about discussions now under way among those parties to form a single ticket for the elections, thus limiting the choices of voters and smothering smaller political parties.

Kerry is concerned about security for the vote, and now Sistani has parallel concerns about how representative a national vote could be. Sistani is the most important Shiite cleric in Iraq. He brokered the cease fire in Najaf last month and America depends on him to reign in a Shiite population that is increasingly being drawn into the growing insurgency. Also, Sistani serves as an important counter-weight to the popular Moktada al-Sadr whose forces control a large section of Baghdad and who controls large numbers of insurgent forces in other western Iraqi cities.

All this is just more grist for the Kerry campaign and will continue to put Bush on the defensive about Iraq. At this point in the election, the situation in Iraq has nearly wiped out the President's bounce and if Kerry can now really sell himself as the candidate of change - and change in Iraq - he will start to put some of those battleground states away, for good.