Overruled Karzai opens parliament

The 249-member lower house of parliament – the Wolasi Jerga – was originally due to open on Sunday

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is due to open parliament shortly, after failing to win a delay to allow September’s disputed elections to be investigated.

Mr Karzai had wanted a special election court to investigate fraud allegations.

But the newly elected MPs argued that it was unconstitutional, and just a means to eject opponents of the president from their seats.

They were backed by the international community, which was worried the standoff could spill onto the streets.

The 249-member lower house of parliament – the Wolasi Jerga – was originally scheduled to open on Sunday.

The BBC’s Paul Wood in Kabul say the new parliament’s inauguration will bring to an end a test of wills in which President Karzai was the loser.

He had wanted a further delay of at least a month to let his special election tribunal investigate the fraud allegations.

But the newly elected MPs said that was just a means to ejecting opponents of the president from their newly won seats.

The members of the new parliament were backed by the international community – Western officials in Kabul were worried that the confrontation could eventually spill onto the streets.

The head of the special tribunal has said there is evidence of electoral fraud countrywide

The US and the UN condemned in strong terms last week’s announcement by the president that he would delay the opening of parliament for a month.

President Karzai had accused “foreign hands” of trying to provoke a crisis in Afghanistan by taking sides with the MPs.

The special tribunal was set up by the Supreme Court to investigate allegations of fraud in September’s parliamentary elections.

About a quarter of the five million votes cast were thrown out and 24 early winners were disqualified.

Critics say Mr Karzai is not happy with the results of the parliamentary poll, which has produced a lower house with a larger, more vocal and coherent opposition than the previous chamber.

The new parliament contains bigger groups of ethnic Tajiks and Hazaras, who could challenge the president’s traditional power base among Pashtuns, Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group.

Although it is largely seen as weak in comparison with the president and his government, the legislature has successfully blocked many cabinet appointments and is a major dissenting voice in the country.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.