Court Ruling Would Oust Quarter of Afghanistan’s Parliament
Afghan Parliament Demands Attorney General Resign Over Ruling
The level of corruption in Afghanistan’s 2010 parliamentary election was so bad that it continues to be a major constitutional issue in the nation to this day. Now, the nation’s court system have ordered 62 “banned” candidates reinstated and the same number of MPs removed, long after parliament has already seated.
The ruling is related to electoral commissions’ attempts to reconcile a voting system that saw ridiculous levels of fraud on all sides, which ended with 62 MPs, many of them supporters of President Hamid Karzai, banned despite the raw data showing them winning.
Such a result was extremely controversial, not because the candidates weren’t trying to rig the election (they most assuredly were), but because it put other candidates in place who were doing the exact same thing, and less effectively. In the end this left a number of districts, particularly in the restive south, without any representation, and with the commission virtually appointing parliamentarians at will.
Parliament is up in arms about the new ruling as well, and has already passed a vote of no confidence against Karzai’s Attorney General, demanding that he immediately resign. If the ruling is upheld it will see a parliament closer to Karzai, and either way the system will remain in serious doubt.
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Jamal
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Can US go in Afghanistan and look into the missing of Iraqi money.., you know the 6.6 or 17billion dollars in cash that been stolen by someone in charge of the money or their relatives and friends of those who were involved in general terms…, after all.., I am sure that somehow China well get paid for its late fee charges of the money landed to US for Iraq and Afghanistan war…, perhaps then we could ask that question.., where the USG got the money to pay the late fee and interests of all those billions borrowed from China. Yet I dont think that we should forget about Israel, they love free money and no questions asked when they are paid in cash.
thedissenter
June 24th, 2011 at 5:38 am
Geez, never ceases to amaze how much these countries read just like the US.
Bianca
June 24th, 2011 at 6:07 am
Of course, if one batch of "elected" will not produce satisfactory results, get another batch. And so on, until permanent bases are "legally" approved. But if not, "war", that is, a hotter version of bases, will go on, and on, and on. Money needs to flow to contractors, no matter what. And if everything fails, the "missing" money will buy Taliban militias, or former Northern League buddies. And if that fails, "UN" electoral "commission" can get any result fixed. Because "UN" bodies just happen to be staffed with someone from UK, US or France, and never from say Indonesia, Brazil or China. The whole thing is about money, and it is really tiring to have to type so many apostrophies, some other convetion may be needed in the age of Empire. Perhaps an I for imperial, like I-court or I-commission, I-Parliament.