Sistani: We will not accept an election law does not give the opportunity to change

Abdul Mahdi Karbalai quoted the representative of the Shiite authority in Iraq, Ali al-Sistani, as saying that the adoption of a new election law does not give the opportunity for change will not be acceptable.

The reference in the Friday sermon in Karbala that the opposite foreign interventions portend great risks and turn Iraq into a battleground and settle accounts in which the loser will be the people.

Al-Marja demanded that no external party should intervene in what it called the reform battle, adding that the failure of the demonstrators' demands so far raises doubts about the seriousness of the ruling powers on achieving reform.

If those in power believe they can evade reform by procrastinating, they are delusional, she said.

This comes while the correspondent of Al Jazeera in Iraq said that Tahrir Square in central Baghdad is relatively calm, after a night witnessed the explosion of two sound bombs near the bridge of the Republic leading to the square, where thousands of demonstrators from Baghdad and a number of southern provinces gather to demand reform and fight corruption.

Dozens of demonstrators were injured in yesterday's clashes between protesters and Iraqi security forces in downtown Baghdad and southern provinces.

Local sources in Basra province in southern Iraq, said that the demonstrators withdrew hours after they closed the gate of the port of Umm Qasr, adding that dozens of demonstrators prevented late last night from entering trucks to the port.

Relative calm
Demonstrations prevailed in Tahrir and Khalani in Baghdad, Basra, Nasiriyah, Maysan, Wasit, Muthanna, Diwaniyah, Karbala, Najaf and Babylon, after a night of carnival joy and joy on the back of the Iraqi national football team beat Iran, as part of the qualifying round to Qatar and Asian Cup in China .

Eyewitnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the demonstration squares witnessed the largest campaign since Friday morning to clean up the streets and lift garbage with the help of Baghdad Municipality cars, which involved hundreds of demonstrators in the demonstration squares.There were no clashes in places of contact with security forces in Tahrir Square and al-Khalani Square.

Demonstrations and sit-ins in Iraq entered the 22nd day under security measures and a large deployment of Iraqi forces in the streets.

More than 300 people have been killed since protests began in Baghdad and the south of the country, expressing discontent with economic hardship and widespread corruption.

Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's government has taken some measures to quell unrest, including providing aid to the poor and creating more jobs for university graduates; but it has failed to keep pace with the growing demands of protesters who are now calling for reform of Iraq's sectarian political system and the departure of the entire ruling elite.

These unrest are among the biggest and most complex challenges for the current ruling elite since they seized power after the US invasion and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.