Avoiding political turmoil: Karzai, MPs strike deal on parliament opening

Karzai reaches a deal with rebel Afghan lawmakers to avert a possible constitutional crisis.

KABUL: President Hamid Karzai has reached a deal with rebel Afghan lawmakers which looks set to avert a possible constitutional crisis over his plan to delay opening the new parliament, MPs said on Saturday.

Karzai has apparently agreed to inaugurate parliament on Wednesday – despite saying this week he was putting the move on hold for a month –avoiding a confrontation with lawmakers threatening to start work without him.

In return, the MPs are expected to agree to respect the rulings of a Supreme Court special tribunal set up to consider cases of fraud in the September elections.

The deal came a day after the United States and the United Nations criticised the plan to delay opening parliament and called for it to convene as soon as possible.

Lawmaker Gul Pacha Majidi told AFP that a committee of 35 MPs had reached an outline agreement with Karzai after hours of talks in Kabul.

“The agreement is that the president will inaugurate parliament Wednesday and in return, the winning candidates will respect and accept the decisions taken by the special tribunal,” he said.

He added that although all of the winning candidates still had to formally agree to back the deal, a large number have agreed to it and he thought it was likely an official resolution would be made public on Sunday.

Another lawmaker, Shukoria Barekzai, added that a deal was “confirmed.” “The Supreme Court will engage with us to solve the crisis,” she said.

Karzai’s office was not immediately available for comment.

The angry parliamentarians were threatening to inaugurate parliament without Karzai on Sunday, the date originally scheduled for the opening, in open defiance of his authority.

The disagreement between the lawmakers and Karzai centres on the results of September’s fraud-hit parliamentary elections, which under-represented the Pashtuns, Karzai’s traditional power base.

Although they make up around 42 per cent of all Afghans, it is thought that only 32 per cent of the new parliamentary intake is from the Pashtuns, historically Afghanistan’s most powerful group.

Karzai’s office announced on Wednesday it was delaying the inauguration of parliament for a month from the original date of Sunday.

That came after the head of a special tribunal of the Supreme Court which is ruling on electoral fraud cases called for a delay of at least four weeks, warning that some results could be thrown out.

But many winning candidates have questioned the authority of the special tribunal, saying it is unconstitutional.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd,  2011.