BAGHDAD, October 29 (IslamOnline.net) - Sunni parties and other political forces seek to align themselves to pick a unified slate for the coming general elections due in January.

Shiite groups also worked hard for forming an electoral bloc, which observers warn could provide the fodder for sectarianism in an already enflamed situation in the country.

Iyad Al-Samarrai, the secretary general of the Islamic Party in Iraq, would contest the January elections with a unified slate, leaving the door open for other national and Islamic groups to join in.

Samarrai said he welcomes any agreement with the two Kurdish rebel groups; the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), to join his party’s unified slate.

He also referred to talks with Iraqi Turkomans - the third national entity in Iraq - for the same purpose of drawing more supporters into the slate.

Samarrai voiced hope all Iraqi tribes (mostly belonging to Arab Sunnis) would step in for trumpeting locality to his unified slate.

As talks continue between the Iraqi Sunni powers to stand on a common ground regarding the unified slate, Shiite and secular parties have tried to get their way.

The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and Dawaa Party have reportedly agreed to build a strategic alliance , a nucleus for an expanded Shiite force to run for the general polls.

“Those two Shiite parties aim to win no less than 50% of the 275-seat parliament in the January elections,” said Rida Jawad, the SCIRI political relations director.

Intensive consultations by the SCIRI and Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s National Accord Movement, Ahmad Chalabi’s National Congress Party will be launched within the coming period for agreeing a full unified slate.

A Shiite official source disclosed similar contacts with other Shiite groups, including that of anti-US firebrand Muqtada Al-Sadr, as well as with other independent Shiite figures for being a part of the strategic alliance.

The source named some of the figures as Iraqi political figures such as Mohamed Bahr Al-Olum and Sallama Khafagy.

The two were members of the disbanded interim governing council, which was overwhelmingly controlled by the Shiites.

Sheikh Ali Semesim, the spokesman for the Sadr’s movement, unveiled earlier talks with the Shiite political council (an umbrella organization of a number of Shiite parties).

The Sadr group also held talks with Christian parties to win their alliance, Semeism said.

Prominent and highly influential Shiite scholar Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani has urged Iraqi Shiites to vote in the elections, describing as traitors those who boycott the elections.

Iraqi political observers fear the fact that these alliances are limited to Shiites would feed sectarian sentiments already flaring up in Iraq, where relations between Sunnis and Shiites are already marked by tension.

They say the slate alliance would do serve the US interests, as Washington would guarantee the locality of the coming Iraq regime and weaken the influence of Iran.

Iran-based Shiite leader Ayatollah Kazim Al-Haeri admitted that the US would have an enormous influence on the January elections.

National and secular parties are also closing ranks for forming an alliance to run for the vote.

The National Democratic Party (NDP) has reached an agreement with main secular and democratic parties in Iraq to have one unified slate, the NDP leader Nassir Al-Jadraji said.