Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Special Tribunal and Continuous Hullabaloo

Sept. 18, 2010, Afghan parliamentary election was riddled with vagueness and allegations about its legitimacy. And both the Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) and Electoral Complaint Commission (ECC) were severely criticized about the claimed inability to deal with electoral fraud and realize justice. But commissions strongly stood and responded that election held was the only possible transparent and democratic under prevalent circumstances. But the controversies have never come to an end, and candidates failed to recline on their self-expected parliamentary seats never came short of pouring fuels to sparked legal and political controversy.

President Hamid Karzai, who was completely inconvenient with the election result, established the 'special tribunal court of law'. This tribunal fuelled further controversies within and outside of government circles. Parliamentarians, since its very establishment, said that the special tribunal court of law was against the constitution and its rulings had not legal justification. Meanwhile, there were others who claimed that special tribunal is based on the constitution. According to this layer's view, both election commissions derive their legitimacy from the President's mandate. Thus the tribunal can be recognized as a legal institution and derives its legitimacy from the same source as that of IEC and ECC.

These two contradictory views are not finalized till present after passing months, and obstacles brought about by this controversy have remained unsolved. While Parliamentarians several times have instantly asked president to dissolve the tribunal court but he turned deaf ears. And while MPs held their posts and continue to discharge the assigned tasks and, meantime, the special court has been busy probing cases linked to electoral fraud. Thus, the most complicated question remained unanswered is what would happen if the investigation found out documents which discredit votes gained by this and that MP. Will he or she be unseated? If so, will MPs accept the ruling and easily stay out?

The recent hearsay about find-out of special court and its likely announcement has tremendously sparked anxiety and anger among MPs. Many MPs have claimed that they had accurate information that more than 80 MPs were going to be unseated on the basis of special tribunal court investigation. The number is confusing large, assuming the allegation true. Almost one third of Parliament Members are going to be unseated. However, far probable, doing so will be unique in its kind. It is understandable that waging such a psycho war in the political realm can assure the political interests of influential individuals but, regretfully, turns out consequential for people of Afghanistan. The presidential election was held in 2009, isn't a shame having left ministry posts' vacant till present, 2011? Rather than doing something real in order to complete the members of his cabinet, he makes some grubby scramble to dishearten his oppositions in Parliament.