Iraq's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on Friday called on politicians to hurry up in reforming electoral laws and said the changes would be the only way to resolve weeks of deadly unrest.

"We affirm the importance of speeding up the passing of the electoral law and the electoral commission law because this represents the country moving past the big crisis," his representative said during a sermon in the holy city of Kerbala.

Sistani, who rarely weighs in on politics except in times of crisis, holds massive influence over public opinion in Shi'ite majority Iraq.