BAGHDAD, Aug 18 (AFP) - A presiding judge at a key national conference said Wednesday that a representative from the camp of militia leader Moqtada Sadr had been included on a list of candidates for Iraq's new interim legislature.
Declaring two competing lists invalid for failing to include the appropriate number of women, Ahmed al-Arargji, still read out the names of those on the first list.
Among the candidates was Abdulkahdim Badr, declared a representative of the organisation of Sadr, who publicly boycotted the national conference, dismissing it as the product of the US-led occupation.
Arargji ordered delegates to alter both lists within an hour to ensure that they meet with the correct preset criteria.
Some 1,300 delegates from across Iraq were to vote Wednesday for a 100-member interim legislature.
Of the 81 seats on the interim legislature to be decided by the vote, 21 are to go to party members, 21 to provincial leaders, 11 to minorities, 10 to tribal figures, 10 to civil society organisations and eight to independents.
Heavy fighting dogged the central holy city of Najaf earlier Wednesday between Sadr's Mehdi Army and US forces, as Defence Minister Hazem al-Shaalan said the militia must surrender within hours or face a decisive battle.