Sistani in trouble.

Yesterday two She'at parties withdrew from the "Unified Coalition List" after stating that "the major powers in the Coalition List are only after positions in the government and not people's interests and that they have marginalized the role of the smaller parties inside the list". The two parties, "Hizbullah in Iraq" and "National Coalition" (which is an Arab nationalist She'at party) hold together about 10 seats of the Coalition List seats in the National Assembly(I'm not sure of the exact number of seats as I found no accurate reference but I know it's very close to 10 if it's not that). Spokesman of the Coalition List called the action "unjustified" and called on the two parties to reconsider.From Al Sharq Al Awsat newspaper (Arabic link)While such loss may not seriously affect the Coalition List's ambitions, it'll certainly harm it especially if these two parties allied with Allawi or the Kurdish Alliance which remains possible since their spokesmen said that their parties will remain "open to cooperation with other political parties"However, I see that the decision of these two parties will have a long term effect that's more significant than the immediate one.The Coalition List has made huge efforts to show Iraqi She'at that they're the choice of the "Marjyia" and that they have Sistani's full support. Sistani remained silent in the beginning which seemed to many people as a silent approval while She'at who ran for office outside the "Coalition List" denied strongly that Sistani would pick any side and give it his support, as they argued that Sistani is the spiritual leader of all She'at and would never give this up to be just a part of the competition. Sistani in the end did just that and that was a big strategic mistake that although made his favored list win more votes it did at the same time shake his image in the eyes of She'at who ran for office outside that list and now it will shake his image in the eyes of even some of those who voted for this list.One of my She'at friends told me after hearing this news that this will disapoint many She'at who voted for the Coalition List depending on Sistani's words, "I'm sure they'll start wondering why Sistani recommended such a list that its members couldn't keep it together at least until the 1st session of the National Assembly is held!" said my friend and he's right, as some people here think of Sistani and the Coalition List as one when it comes to politics and therefore any withdrawal from this list give the impression that he did not know where to put his trust.Another She'at friend of mine who voted for the Coalition List (and who insist that he did not vote because of what Sistani said but because he saw this list as the best alternative for Allawi, as "Allawi must go" as my friend said because he (Allawi) had accepted many ex-Ba'athists inside his party and gave them positions in the interim government which is actually true) told me that he thinks this is a good news! He seemed to be worried about the sizes of the radical religious representation inside the coalition list that he and most of his friends were not aware of. For example he did not know that Sadr has won seats within the Coalition List and I don't blame him for that, as the majority of the news was saying that Sadr was not going to take part in the elections according to repeated statements by his spokesmen. There were little information available for the voters about the competing lists and one had to put a lot of effort to find the truth about some of these lists.My friend, after realizing he had voted for a group that gave Sadr many seats became worried of this group's domination and therefore thought that it's good that it's losing some ground and that this would balance things more. He also told me that he had expected what happened because of all the conflicts inside the Coalition List. Of course there was some competition between the SCIRI and Al Da'awa party over the PM position but this is expected and accepted, but the main and more serious conflict seems to be between Chalabi and the religious parties.We hear every now and then about this religious party or that from inside the Coalition List visiting Sistani to ask for his guidance. Chalabi, according to people's talk here, seems to resent this arguing that they can't keep asking Sistani's guidance or approval for every step they make. My friend agreed with Chalabi, and so do I of course but I cannot but wonder why did Chalabi agreed to ask for Sistani's blessings in the first place! He should now deal with the consequences.Anyway Al Sistani lost a lot by putting himself in the middle of an arena where religious stuff means little when put against personal and partisan interests that affects even the most honest politicians and make them forget their principal duties whether this means to them their religious duties dictated by their beliefs or their duties to their country. It's not about the number of seats, although it's an important issue, but it's that the next time Sistani interferes in elections or any serious political issues the number of people that would depend on his judgment would most likely be much less than the 1st time, and this of course is good for the She'at and Iraq.