Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani has called on the government and parliament to take serious steps to improve electricity, provide jobs and fight corruption in Iraq, where progress remains slow eight years after the US invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.
Religious and political sources said Sistani has rejected meetings with dozens of politicians in the last eight weeks, including Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and prominent political leaders Ammar Al-Hakim and Ibrahim Al-Jaafari.
“Since the middle of June, Sayyid Sistani has rejected receiving any Iraqi politician or government official because they do not listen to the Marjaiya’s advice and instructions, which are linked to people’s interest,” said a cleric in Sistani’s office who declined to be named.
The Marjaiya refers to the country’s senior Shiite clergy and often means Sistani himself.
Iraq was struck by nationwide protests earlier this year against shortages of jobs, power, water and other basic services as Iraqis, inspired by protests around the Arab world, demand reforms from a government formed in December after elections in March 2010.
Politicians have moved to soothe anger by cutting their own salaries, doling out free electricity And buying sugar for a food ration program, but little change has been seen in the streets.
Sistani, who publicly steers clear of politics, wields huge clout and is seen as a force of unity among most of Iraq’s Shiites.
Clerics said that the other Marjaiya, Eshac Al-Fiyadh, Basheer Al-Najafi and Mohammed Saied Al-Hakim, may join Sistani’s boycott.
“There is strong dissatisfaction ... on part of (Basheer Al-Najafi) regarding this issue and the neglect by officials of the citizens,” said Sheikh Ali Al-Najafi, spokesman for Najafi.
Officials with Maliki’s State of Law political coalition said Sistani had not stopped meeting politicians to protest the lack of services but because he is too busy.
“This talk is not precise. Sayyid Sistani knows that the situation of the basic services needs a long time to improve,” SOL member Abdulhadi Al-Hassani said. “Sayyid Sistani has his own program and this program sometimes does not allow him to find time to meet officials.”
Increasing political tensions may hamper the fragile government coalition of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions as it tries to decide whether US troops should stay in Iraq beyond a year-end deadline.