Constitutional Crisis in Afghanistan Over Parliament Postponement

A Constitutional and perhaps governmental crisis is looming in Afghanistan following President Karzai’s decision to delay the seating of parliament over massive evidence of election fraud.

Many see Karzai’s delays as an attempt to prevent the seating of a parliament which could check his power, though there doesn’t appear to be serious doubt of the veracity of the claims about election fraud.

But some of the “elected” MPs plan to show up on Sunday and attempt to enter the legislature anyhow, saying there is no constitutional basis for blocking the seating of parliament so many months after the vote.

This has raised the possibility of President Karzai deploying security forces to the parliament building to move against any of the MPs who attempt to enter. One of the MPs says this will determine whether Afghanistan is a democracy or an autocracy. Whichever it is, the one safe bet is that whoever is running the country will have won an election under questionable circumstances.