File photo of protestors shouting "Yes, yes to Sistani; no, no to selection (of interim government)"

BAGHDAD, February 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Iraq’s Shiite elite and the U.S.-picked Interim Governing Council are mulling alternative proposals for a hand over of power from the occupation forces, as top Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani insists on people's representation in any mechanism.

The Marjaiya, the top religious body for the country's Shiites, has established a series of alternatives for the power transfer, said Sheikh Abdel Mahdi al-Karbalai, a representative of Sistani in Karbala.

The alternative proposals cannot be unveiled now "since we are awaiting an answer from the United Nations," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The U.N. team, which had concluded a visit to Iraq last week, is expected to recommend delaying direct elections demanded by Sistani before the handover of power by June 30.

The Shiite scholar is vehemently against choosing a provincial government that would run most affairs in the oil-rich country through regional caucuses selected by the U.S.-led occupation authority.

Lakhdar Brahimi, who led the U.N. mission in Iraq, cautioned at the end of his visit that it would take a tremendous amount of groundwork to hold free and fair elections.

A source close to the Marjaiya warned that the options could include a possibly violent campaign against the U.S.-led occupation.

"It's only a possible option to re-establish the balance" of power with the occupation power, he said.

But the campaign seemed doubtful given the Shiite policy, until now, of shying away from launching resistance attacks against the occupation forces.

al-Sistani, widely revered as Iraq's most influential Shiite leader, has stopped short of issuing any fatwas calling on Shiites to fight the occupiers.

He had exhorted the Iraqi people to resort to "civil Jihad" instead of launching armed attacks against Anglo-American troops.

Expansion

The Governing Council also joined in the debate, putting forward options for resolving the handover stand-off.

"We have two options: either expanding the Governing Council by adding new members or holding a national conference that will include all the Iraqi powers," said Council member Mahmoud Othman.

"I want to see a national conference for all the components of the Iraqi people under the auspices of the U.N., the U.S., the European Union even the Arabic League and this would be the right step toward a national reconciliation," Othman told Reuters.

Political sources said talks focused on adding representatives of political figures or groups like Shiite firebrand leader Muqtada al-Sadr and a gathering of Baghdad-based Sunni scholars, the agency added.

Representative Mechanism

But Iraq's political future rests mostly with al-Sistani who could make or break any plans, Reuters said, adding he is capable of sending hundreds of thousands of Iraqis out to back his demands.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of the southern city of Basra, in support of Sistani.

Adnan al-Asadi, a senior member of the Islamic Da'wa Party, and other politicians who have met Sistani, say he wants any transitional assembly to be chosen by Iraqis.

"I will accept any mechanism that will represent the Iraqi people," Asadi quoted Sistani as saying.

The U.S. administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said Sunday, February 15, that Washington was awaiting U.N. proposals on the handover, but signaled willingness to bring closer Iraqi national elections -- set under the U.S. plan to begin next January 31 -- perhaps to December this year.

Nevertheless, Bremer insisted that elections could not take place before the June deadline.