A senior Iraqi cleric warns against foreign interference in the country's upcoming elections amid the US' attempts to link electoral matters to its withdrawal from Iraq.

Ammar al-Hakim, the head of the Shia-led Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), on Saturday cautioned against "worrisome efforts to undermine the political process," referring to the upcoming parliamentary vote.

Speaking on the occasion of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha (the Feast of the Sacrifice) in the capital, Baghdad, al-Hakim added that "we stand against such attempts. They are doomed to fail. (There is) a danger of foreign intervention in the electoral process. The election is an internal Iraqi affair."

"We must strive for consensus among all Iraqis. We will defend all Iraqis across the country," said al-Hakim whose party has been providing the Iraqi Shias with social services and humanitarian aid since the US-led 2003 invasion.

Short of general agreement on an election law, the parliament has said it might postpone until March the polls which are to be constitutionally held by the end of January.

Washington has, meanwhile, been claiming that changes in the process could complicate its withdrawal from Iraq.

Over one million Iraqis have reportedly died as a result of the six-year-old occupation, says California-based investigative project, Project Censored.

HN/SC/MMN