KABUL - The tensions over the election of the speaker of the Lower House of Parliament continued on Saturday with no breakthrough.
Tensions erupted after MPs divided over the selection of Mir Rahman Rahmani as the House Speaker. Rahmani’s rival MP Kamal Naser Osuli rejected to accept the election result.
In the election, Rahmani secured 123 votes of the 244 votes cast while Osuli got 55 votes. The interim speaker of the House announced Rahmani as the winner.
Following that tensions erupted between the followers of the two sides. A 27-member committee was formed to resolve the issue between the two sides.
Majority of the committee members endorsed Rahmani’s selection as the Parliament Speaker but 11 members of the committee refused to accept the committee decision.
On the latest developments, lawmakers close to Rahmani said the discussions have ended because Rahmani was elected as Parliament speaker by a majority of votes.
At the same time, a number of the lawmakers blasted some specific circles for benefiting from the tensions.
The lawmakers stressed that if the problem remains unsolved, they will hold their sessions out of the hall.
“We are plagued by this situation as the parliament has been taken hostage; the people criticize us for this problem,” said Belqis Roshan, an MP from Farah province.
“We are representatives of our people and do not follow anyone. Whatever is going on in the parliament is just unacceptable,” said Shegufa Noorzai, an MP from Helmand.
Osuli’s supporters say that the controversial issues have remained unsolved and the Saturday session ended without any positive result.
“The discussions have no result as the cases have remained unsolved,” said Mirwais Yasini, an MP from Nangarhar province.
MP Kamal Naser Osoli suggests that the voting over the only controversial vote should be held secretively.
“Sixteen members of the committee have decided that Rahman Rahmani is the winner of the election, and the remaining eleven members demanded that another voting should be held over the only controversial vote,” said Khan Mohammad Rezaee, an MP from Kabul.
On the other hand, 130 MPs have signed a letter confirming the selection of Rahmani, saying that based on the parliament’s regulation of internal affairs, the confirmations by 130 lawmakers act as a law. (ATN)