Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Sistani says early election only way out of crisis

https://www.rt.com/newsline/476469-iraq-sistani-early-election/

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Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said on Friday that an early election was the only way out of the current unrest in the country and that a new government should be formed soon.

“The fastest and most peaceful way out of the current crisis, and avoiding the unknown or chaos or civil strife, is to go back to the people by holding an early election after legislating a fair electoral law,” Reuters quoted Sistani as saying.

“We hope that the formation of a new government is not delayed for long,” he said in a speech read out by a representative at a Friday prayer sermon in the Shiite holy city of Kerbala.

Since a wave of popular unrest began on October 1, protesters have been demanding an overhaul of a political system they see as profoundly corrupt and keeping most Iraqis in poverty.