[The latest episode of parliamentary violence erupted when supporters of one lawmaker, Mir Rahman Rahmani, tried to forcibly seat him at the speaker’s desk over the protests of his rival, Kamal Naser Osuli.]
By Mujib Mashal and Jawad Sukhanyar
 |
|
Lawmakers
in Afghanistan’s Parliament, where a leadership dispute that has often
descended
into violence is now in its second month.
Credit
Omar Sobhani/Reuters
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KABUL,
Afghanistan — Fistfights
broke out and furniture was smashed in Afghanistan’s Parliament on Wednesday as
disagreement about who should lead the country’s new lower house dragged into
its second month.
The crisis in Parliament, some of which has
been televised, has often broken into violence and has become the most vivid
manifestation of Afghanistan’s political fragility as the United States pushes
the Taliban to sit down with the government in the hopes of securing a deal to
end the country’s long war.
It also comes as President Ashraf Ghani’s
term in office has expired, with opposition leaders questioning his legitimacy
to continue as leader. He remains in office based on an extension granted by
the Supreme Court until a delayed presidential election is held in September.
The latest episode of parliamentary violence
erupted when supporters of one lawmaker, Mir Rahman Rahmani, tried to forcibly
seat him at the speaker’s desk over the protests of his rival, Kamal Naser
Osuli.
Mr. Rahmani won the most votes in an internal
election for the speakership last month, but Mr. Osuli, who received about 70
fewer votes, blocked Mr. Rahmani on a technicality. Mr. Osuli says that Mr.
Rahmani missed the required majority by a single vote, in a count in which one
vote was disputed as invalid.
“As they went out to bring Rahmani from his
office, other lawmakers rushed to the stage and started throwing out the
speaker’s desk and seat,” Breshna Rabi, a member of Parliament from the
northern province of Balkh, said of Wednesday’s brawl. “They threw away all the
furniture.”
“No one listens or respects each other,” Ms.
Rabi added. “No one tolerates each other. We don’t know what to do.”
As Mr. Rahmani’s supporters brought him to
the stage to seat him, Mr. Osuli’s supporters broke the speaker’s desk and
flung the chair into the hall.
A fellow lawmaker, Malalai Ishaqzai, said she
had become frustrated about Parliament’s behavior even before the session broke
into a brawl. “We have no honor outside,” she told other members of Parliament.
“You have come here from the streets. May God destroy you all.”
The disagreement has largely been over the
single disputed ballot that would have allowed Mr. Rahmani to become speaker.
In addition to a tick mark, the ballot has an extra dot on it — an addition
that Mr. Osuli and his supporters say makes the ballot invalid.
Just how that extra dot ended up on the
ballot may speak to a larger phenomenon in Afghan politics: the influence of
money.
In private, lawmakers say that many members
of Parliament cast their votes for a price. But votes in the Afghan Parliament
are cast secretly and then counted in the open. As proof that they have
fulfilled their promise for the money, lawmakers will leave agreed-on evidence
on the ballot.
“I can confirm that money was involved in the
voting,” said Atta Mohammad Dehqanpor, the temporary speaker, who oversaw the
vote. “I saw almost all lawmakers who went to the booth to tick their ballot
tried to take a photo of the ballot — meaning they wanted to show to whomever
they voted for that they had really voted and this is the proof.”
Despite their inability to elect a speaker,
which was their first task as members of the new Parliament, the lawmakers said
that they had still received their first paycheck — about $2,200.
The new Parliament was inaugurated in late
April after elections that had been delayed for three years and were widely
seen as fraudulent and mismanaged.
The results of that vote, announced after all
the officials overseeing the election were fired amid accusations of
corruption, faced considerable outcry from candidates who questioned the
transparency and legitimacy of the results. Several defeated candidates held
protests, and some went on hunger strike outside the presidential palace,
claiming that the country’s leadership had meddled in the results.
Analysts and diplomats in Kabul, the Afghan
capital, worry that the messy parliamentary elections and the dispute over the
speakership are omens for what is to come in September’s presidential election,
when the stakes are much higher.
A dispute over Afghanistan’s last
presidential elections, in 2014, nearly tore the country apart. The stalemate
was resolved only when the American secretary of state stepped in to broker a
coalition government.
The political environment has since grown
even more toxic, and the most recent parliamentary elections, held in October,
largely turned disastrous as a test run for anti-fraud mechanisms.
The cycle of troubled elections is
exacerbated as officials who oversee the problematic votes often receive prized
political appointments. But Western officials also blame international donors
who fund the elections.
One senior Western official in Kabul, who
spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid angering his colleagues, said the
donor countries were enabling the situation by ignoring clear evidence of
wrongdoing, poor accountability and insufficient preparation.
Intizar Khadem, a political analyst in Kabul,
said the repeated failure of election officials and weak voting laws had
created a cycle that could eventually lead to a collapse of governance in
Afghanistan.
“This process is building an unhealthy
political culture,” Mr. Khadim said. “There is no political commitment.”
Fahim Abed and Fatima Faizi contributed
reporting.
