Tens of thousands of Friday worshippers in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad were told to vote in January elections by a representative of Moqtada al-Sadr, the clearest sign yet the radical Shia cleric has given up armed struggle and intends to channel his aggression into mainstream politics.

"I call on you all to participate in the elections," Sheikh Abdul Zahra al- Suweidi, a Sadr representative, told a crowd of about 50,000 yesterday.