BAGHDAD, Oct. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the largest Shiite alliance in Iraq, decided to contest the country's parliamentary elections due on Dec. 15 as a single electoral list, a politician in the alliance said on Thursday.

   "The UIA held intensive talks till late last night and solved the disputes that threatened to break up the Shiite alliance," Abbas al-Bayati, parliament member from the alliance, told reporters.

   He said Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr appeared in the new list and was granted a more formal role in the alliance.

   The changes came down to almost all parties in the alliance, al-Bayati added.

   According to schedules, parties and coalitions have until Friday to register for the Dec. 15 vote.

   The Shiite alliance mainly consisted of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Dawa Party headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and several other Shiite parties.

   On Wednesday, three major Sunni Arab parties, namely the People of Iraq Gathering, the Iraqi Islamic Party and Iraqi Council of the National Dialogue, announced that they have formed a new gathering called "Iraqi Consensus Front" to contest the legislative elections.

   Leaders of the three Sunni Arab parties said their gathering would be also open to other Iraqis, calling on all Iraqis to vote in the coming elections.

   Meanwhile, secular Shiite Iyad Allawi, former prime minister, is also struggling for a broad coalition to contest the elections. Enditem