Following his meeting yesterday with Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki told a news conference that the next few days could witness an alliance between his "State of Law" political group and the Iraqi National Coalition, a coalition of Shi’ite political parties under the leader of Ammar Al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Islamic Council who has strong ties with Iran.
[Al-Maliki did not provide information on the nature of the alliance and whether the two groups will run on one or two lists of candidates. This announcement comes as a surprise because Al-Maliki has insisted for months that he planned to run an independent campaign. Iran has been pressuring the various Shi’ite political parties to unite before the elections to insure that the next government will continue to be dominated by Shi’ite political forces and remains loyal to it.]
Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, January 5, 2010
