BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Under the guidance of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite cleric, Shiite parties presented a list Thursday of 228 candidates for next month’s elections. Minority Sunni Arabs, who had been favored under Saddam Hussein, must now decide whether to join the race or renounce a vote that will help determine the country’s future.

The announcement of the list of 23 parties, dubbed the United Iraqi Alliance, followed weeks of haggling. It includes two powerful Shiite parties, as well as an array of independent Sunni tribal figures, Shiite Kurdish groups and members of smaller movements. Importantly, the list did not include the movement of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who appeared to be waiting to see whether the vote will be considered legitimate before he joins the political process. With violence roiling the country and key Sunni leaders demanding the Jan. 30 vote be put off, a credible election is by no means certain.

There were already signs that Sunni ranks were breaking: One group that had called for a delay, the Iraqi Islamic Party, quietly submitted a 275-candidate list Thursday.

Party officials told The Associated Press they wanted to reserve the right to take part in the vote if the election is not postponed.

In violence Thursday, seven Iraqis were killed in clashes in Baghdad and the volatile western city of Ramadi. A car bomb also rocked a busy vegetable market in the northern city of Mosul, wounding two civilians, while a U.S. soldier was wounded by a roadside bomb in the capital.

Iraq’s leading Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, appointed the committee that set up the 228-candidate list. He has been working to unite Iraq’s majority Shiites ahead of the vote to ensure victory, and include representatives from Iraq’s other diverse communities. Shiites make up 60 percent of Iraq’s 26 million population.

The major Shiite political parties, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Dawa Party, were on the list. Both have strong links with Iran, a Shiite but non-Arab neighbor.

The 228 candidates also include independent Sunni Muslims, members of the Yazidis minority religious sect, and a Turkomen movement, among others. Also listed are members of the Iraqi National Congress, led by former exile and one-time Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi.

Abiding by electoral law, at least one-third of the candidates on the list are women.

The announcement puts the focus on the Sunni Arab minority, some of whom have said the country is far too unsafe to hold a vote. They must decide to risk boycotting the vote, which could leave them with little power if the election goes ahead.

The announcement by the Iraqi Islamic Party to submit a list of candidates suggested Sunni Arabs have begun to see the vote as inevitable. Senior party official Ayad al-Samarrai said the move was meant to prove the party was serious about elections, but will need to evaluate the situation further before deciding whether to contest the vote.

“We’re reserving our right” to participate in the elections, al-Samarrai said. “Toward the end, we will decide.”

Sunni clerics from the Association of Muslim Scholars urged Sunnis to boycott the election to protest last month’s U.S.-led assault on the then-insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. The influential religious group called plans to hold the vote in January “madness.”

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