Afghan election commission orders 9 MPs out of parliament

Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Sunday announced the disqualification of nine serving lawmakers from Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of parliament and replacing them with nine protesting candidates who challenged their failure in the last parliamentary election held on Sept. 18, 2010. IEC chief Fazil Ahmad Manawi told reporters in a press conference here in Afghan capital Kabul that IEC made the decision in line with the special electoral tribunal ruling announced in June. Manawi also said two of those, unseated from Wolesi Jirga, are from western Herat province and the remaining seven are from Faryab, Paktia, Badakhshan, Baghland, Samangan, Helmand and Zabul provinces. The special electoral tribunal in its ruling after months of investigation and recounting on June 23 rejected the results for 62 seats of the 249-member Wolesi Jirga. However, President Karzai's critics and the sitting lawmakers in a sharp reaction denounced the ruling as a trick by president to add his men into the parliament and manipulate the power. The lawmakers, furthermore, days after the special court's verdict voted to sack five senior members of the Supreme Court including Chief Justice Abdul Salam Azimi on the ground of failing to stop special electoral tribunal. Opposition lawmakers had also voted to disqualify the country's Attorney General Ishaq Alako for what they called siding with president and thus deepening the crisis. The IEC decision announced Sunday obviously would not wrap up the crisis as the sitting parliamentarians have vowed not to allow anyone to replace any present member of the Lower House of parliament; while on the other hand, the association of 62 protesting candidates who were declared winners by the special electoral tribunal have warned that any change in their list will cause more crisis and they will not enter the parliament unless all of them given certificates by IEC.