KABUL — The speaker of Parliament on Saturday swore in eight of nine new members reinstated last month by the country’s election commission, as hundreds of police officers armed with riot gear and machine guns blocked the entrance to the building to keep out members who had been replaced by the commission’s ruling.
The swearing-in ceremony was witnessed by only a few dozen Parliament members.
Dozens more, however, stood outside in solidarity with the ousted members, in a sign of a widening rift within Parliament, which up to now had appeared mostly unified against President Hamid Karzai’s efforts to reshape the legislature.
“This is a coup d’etat by the president against the Parliament,” said Abdul Jabbar Qahraman, a lower-house member from Helmand province. He is part of a coalition that claims to have about 140 members — more than half the lower house — who oppose the Independent Election Commission’s latest ruling. The New York Times
