KABUL — Under heavy pressure from Afghan lawmakers and Western diplomats, President Hamid Karzai agreed Saturday to convene the newly elected parliament, ending a political standoff that threatened to spark a constitutional crisis.
After hours of tense discussions at the presidential palace, Karzai backed off his order to delay the session for a month to allow more time for a special tribunal to investigate allegations of fraud in September’s parliamentary election, according to two of the lawmakers involved in the talks, Shukria Barakzai of Kabul and Gul Pacha Majidi of Ghazni province.
In return, Karzai asked the parliamentarians to agree that any criminal case against a lawmaker could go forward, said Mirwais Yasini, a representative from Nangarhar province who was deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament in the last session. The legislators agreed to this Saturday evening and drafted a letter to send to the president today, Yasini said.
Although he has not said so publicly, it is generally thought that Karzai is unhappy with the election results and thinks fraud reduced voter turnout among his fellow ethnic Pashtuns. Some of the hundreds of losing candidates said Karzai told them that he thought they were wronged and that he would do everything to support further investigations into election fraud.
The order to delay the parliament, however, sparked an outcry among lawmakers and drew pressure from the United States, the United Nations and other world powers for Karzai to resolve the dispute and allow the 249-seat legislature to convene.
In a statement released Friday night, the United Nations expressed its “deep concern and surprise” at the president’s order for a delay.
Legislators had threatened to defy the president’s ordered delay and start the session on their own today, as originally scheduled, even if they had to meet in a hotel or on the street. Under Afghan law, the president inaugurates the legislature at its opening session.
In an effort to avert a public showdown today, Karzai invited all the lawmakers to the palace for lunch Saturday and, after much debate, a compromise was reached.
