Telegraphing your intentions

The Iraqi Press Monitor for October 26 has this from Addustour, an independent Iraqi daily:

The Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq has made a strategic treaty with the Dawa Party chaired by Iraqi Vice-President Ibrahim al-Jafari. The treaty aims at creating a Shia-Shia alliance as a preliminary step to running in the elections. Sciri's Director of Political Relations Ridha Jawad Taqi said there were many mechanisms through which the Council could run in the elections, including through a unified national list. ... The Council will also present a unified Shia list if the first list fails. "The Council aims at no less than 50% Shia representation in the National Assembly to achieve the necessary political balance".

Some time ago now I raised the question of what the concept of democracy means to the different factions in Iraq, including suggesting that to the Shiites it means majority - i.e, Shiite - rule, period. That is, if the Shiites are not able to rule, it's not democracy. SCIRI and the Dawa Party wanting to insure that Shiites make up a majority of the National Assembly (and therefore be able to control the shape of the new constitution) is a development I take as a step in that direction.