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KABUL: On Wednesday, the tensions among the supporters of Kamal Naser Osuli, a lawmaker running for the parliament speaker and his challenger Mir Rahman Rahmani began with verbal and then led to physical disputes, after they failed to reach a resolve.
According to some members of the parliament, the disputes occurred after Rahmani entered the parliament with armed men and tried to take the seat forcefully.
“He (Rahmani) brought over 30 bodyguards and tried to sit on the seat of speaker forcefully, but some of the lawmakers prevented him,” said Gul Ahmad Tarin, a member of parliament.
Khan Aqa Rezayee, another member of the parliament and Rahmani’s supporter, confirmed the dispute, but said: “It is not true, we didn’t see any armed men, they were all parliament guards.”
The chaos happened on May 23rd in the Wolesi Jirga after the lawmakers were divided over electing of the new speaker for the parliament.
Osuli and Rahmani, who were competing for occupying the speaker post, could not secure enough votes from their colleagues. Rahmani gained 124 votes and his challenger Osuli was voted with 55. But later on, it was found out that one of Rahmani’s votes was invalidated because of having a dot on it, which was not acceptable for his challenger Osuli.
Members of parliament failed in several efforts to resolve the problem and reach an agreement. The results of last October’s legislative contest were announced after several months of delay and new representatives of people entered the House of the Nation among a number of those from the previous round.
