Sadr movement to back candidates in Iraq polls

Baghdad: Iraq's opposition Sadr bloc will not compete in elections as a group but will ask followers to vote for their candidates who will join other groups, Sadr officials said on Sunday.

The move is seen as the bloc's way of getting around a draft elections law that is expected to ban any group that has a militia from taking part in the October 1 elections. The Sadr bloc is supported by Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr's Mehdi Army.

Salah Al Ubaidi, spokesman for Al Sadr, denied reports that the group was boycotting the polls and said the bloc made the decision because it did not want to "politicise" the polls.

"We will not take part in the coming elections under the name of the Sadr bloc list. We will call our candidates to participate in joint lists and we will call our followers to vote for them," Ubaidi said.

Luwaa Sumaisem, head of the Sadr bloc's political committee, said the movement would urge its followers to vote for candidates "we believe will serve our policy and the people".

He denied the decision had anything to do with the draft elections law.