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PROGRESS AND PITFALLS OF “PEACE-BUILDING” IN AFGHANISTAN continues...
The constitution also provides a bicameral legislature which represents a compromise between central power and regional interests. Power is vested in the Lower House and the Upper House, also called the House of Elders has one representative from each Provincial Council, one from district council, a number of Presidential
appointees; half of appointed candidates being women. There are two
Vice Presidents directly voted for a period of five years.
The late king Zahir Shah was given the honorific title of “the Father of the Nation” in recognition of the monarch’s reign of peace and harmony, which is now
nostaligically remembered by the Afghans.
The Bonn Agreement stipulated for an independent judiciary while establishing a unified executive and legislative authority for the Interim Government.
Loya Jirga, a pashtun word for “Grand Assembly” or “Council,” have
been convened to decide crucial matters (like choosing leaders or
adopting the constitution) and solve disputes. Composed of tribal elders
and elderly and respectable people who were sent to Kabul by local Shuras
(village level councils), this “quasi-democratic” system has been prevelant in Afghan society and has generally stood in good stead as it gave
representation to all ethnic and religious groups.
Such a Loya Jirga was put into operation by the Bonn Agreement which created an Interim Administration and a timetable for setting up of a future elected
government in that country through free and fair elections.
An election to the office of the President of Afghanistan was held on 9 October 2004 in which Karzai won with 55.4 percent of the votes and three times more
votes than any other candidate. This was Afghanistan’s first direct
elections. In 1965 and 1969 there were legislative polls, but those
elections were indirect. After accusations of fraud circulated on the day of
the elections at least fifteen candidates declared that they were boycotting the ballot, but the boycott dissolved when the UN announced it would set
up a three-person independent panel to investigate the charges of
50 irregularity. The date was originally set for July but were twice
postponed, first until September and then until October.
To be continued....