KABUL — lower house of parliament — have been injured by a number of lawmakers, a well-placed source claimed on Monday.
Rahimullah Ghalib, acting deputy secretary, told Pajhwok Afghan News the first general session was not to be held today based on the direction of Mir Rahman Rahmani, who has been named as speaker.
But a source in the Wolesi Jirga told Pajhwok Afghan News some lawmakers forced their way into the house. Five guards trying to keep the MPs from entering the house were injured.
Legislators Rahmani and Kamal Naser Osuli, who received the highest numbers of votes, were candidates for the speaker’s position in the second round of voting on Saturday.
Atta Mohammad Dehqanpoor, provisional speaker, said there were 247 lawmakers present in the house and a candidate was required to win 124 votes to win the seat.
Based on the results announced after the voting, Rahmani received 123 votes and Isuli 55. None was able to win the required number of votes.
On that day a number of lawmakers said Rahmani had met the 50-plus-one vote threshold and was winner but others insisted the winner must get 50 percent-plus one vote.
Finally, Dehqanpor created a team of five lawmakers comprised of Osuli, Nazir Ahmad Hanafi, Seddiq Ahmad Osmani and Abdul QaderZazai to help him make a decision on the regard.
After an hour of discussion with the mentioned lawmakers, Dehqanpor announced Mir RahmanRahmani as winner of the speaker post.
He said 244 lawmakers had cast their votes and the candidate who received 123 votes was winner.
However, a number of lawmakers opposed announcing Rahmani as winner for the speaker seat. The Wolesi Jirga session was concluded after Rahmani was announced winner.
Dehqanpor later introduced Rahmani to the speaker office and said there was no legal problem in the voting process.
Women members on Sunday barred the disputed nominees from taking the speaker’s seat. At the beginning of yesterday session, a 15-member parliamentary committee has been formed to resolve the controversy over the speaker’s election.
Omar Nasir Mujaddedi, a lawmaker from Herat province, said on Monday the panel’s work had yielded no result as five impartial MPs had left the team and claimed the two sides were trying to cut a deal.
pk/mud
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