Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s office announces opening of the country’s new fraud-hit parliament has been delayed by a month.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office announced on Wednesday that the opening of the country’s new fraud-hit parliament has been delayed by a month, after a judge demanded more time to rule on alleged irregularities. The new Wolesi Jirga had been due to be inaugurated on January 23 but the date has now been pushed back to February 22 to allow a special tribunal of the Supreme Court to decide whether some winners should be thrown out. "The president's office, respecting the demand by the court, delays the inauguration of the parliament until (February 22) of the current year," the statement released Wednesday said. It insisted that the inauguration would take place on this date "without any further delay". And in an apparent reference to the court's work, the statement said that Karzai's office "demands that all required actions be taken in this period." The U-turn, a fresh blow to Karzai's already shaky political authority, came hours after the tribunal's chief, Judge Sidiqullah Haqiq, was cheered on by losing candidates as he called for a delay. September's parliamentary elections were hit by fraud and violence and resulted in a weak showing for the Pashtuns, Afghanistan's biggest single ethnic group and Karzai's traditional power base. Electoral authorities disqualified 24 early winners, including allies of the president, and threw out around a quarter of about five million votes cast. The attorney general's office later called for the results to be annulled, saying the vote was marred by massive fraud. Karzai himself has yet to endorse the outcome.Afghanistan Delays Fraud-Hit Parliament Opening for a Month
