Chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI) Ayatollah Mohammad-Baqer Khakim stressed that a future Iraqi government should be elected through democratic means, the official IRNA news agency reported Thursday.

Khakim was quoted as saying that the SAIRI would wait for the vote of the Iraqi people to decide the future of the country, voicing concerns that Washington's insistence on establishing a military command in Iraq could trigger civil war in the country.

"Other countries have no right to interfere in determining the future Iraqi government," he added.

Khakim pointed out that the Iraqi opposition groups have already declared in their meetings before the war that they have a specific plan for post-Saddam Iraq.

"The opposition advocates a democratic and national government represented by all the groups and representatives of different strata of people," he said.

Khakim also called on all Iraqi opposition groups to meet and debate the future of Iraq by negotiating the "differences of opinion".

(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2003)