The death this week of the powerful cleric/politician Abdel Aziz al Hakim left a vacancy at the top of Iraq's biggest Shiite political party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, just ahead of election season.

International commentators speculated that the vacuum might lead to internecine wrangling that could weaken the party, the pillar of a mostly Shiite slate that's expected to be on the ballot in parliamentary elections this winter. Well, the speculation is over today -- the party (ISCI) announced that Hakim's successor would be his son, Ammar al Hakim, 38, an Iranian-trained cleric and scholar who now lives in Baghdad.

The announcement was no shocker -- the younger Hakim had for all practical purposes led the party since 2007, when his father began cancer treatment. Still, some senior Shiite politicians privately say they believe Ammar al Hakim is too young and inexperienced for the job. They preferred a more senior candidate such as veteran party loyalists Jalaladeen Sagheer or Homam al Homoodi.

I haven't yet talked to enough party insiders to see whether feathers were ruffled during the succession process or whether this had been planned all along. No matter how it shakes out, Ammar al Hakim is going to need the support of his father's generation to keep the Shiite Islamist bloc intact and viable in elections, especially after an embarrassing scandal involving one of the party's senior leaders in July.