(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News) KABUL (Pajhwok): TheWolesi Jirga or lower house on Saturday once again failed to resolve the dispute over the speaker's election for a seventh day.
On May 16, lawmakers Mir Rahman Rahmani, Mirwais Yasini, Kamal Naser Osuli and Omar Nasir contested for the speaker post.
However, none could bag enough votes to become speaker of the house and the ballot went to a second round, which was deferred to Sunday.
Mir Rahmani and Osuli, who received the highest numbers of votes on Thursday, were in the run for the slot in the second round of voting.
Atta Mohammad Dehqanpor, provisional speaker, said there were 247 lawmakers present in the house and a candidate was required to collect 124 votes to win the seat.
In the second round, Rahmani bagged 123 votes --- one vote short of the threshold --- and Osuli collected 55 votes. However, Dehqanpur declared Rahmani as winner, triggering a dispute among lawmakers.
After two days of the tussle, the lower house on last Wednesday assigned a 27-member delegation, including 10 members of an earlier delegation, to resolve the dispute.
Ghulam Hussain Naseri, a member of the delegation, on Wednesday said that 11 members of the team, who sought a decision on the matter by the lower house, were removed while 16 others made their decision about the issue.
Dozens of lawmakers were present at today's session but journalists were not allowed to enter the Wolesi Jirga hall and even the house television was switched off.
A lawmaker, who wished to go unnamed, told Pajhwok Afghan News that due to lack of administrative board, each lawmaker tried to serve their interest and there was anarchy at today session.
Osuli, a lawmaker from Khost province and candidate for the speaker position, told Pajhwok that no one could take the speaker's seat by force.
'The best way for solution of this problem is law and internal duty regulations of the lower house, if the decisions of the house are based on legal grounds we accept them,' he said.
However, Khan Agha Rezaee, a lawmaker from Kabul and also a supporter of Mir Rahmani, a candidate for the speaker seat, said that Rahmani won the election in all three rounds. He said tomorrow they would make a decision.
Balqis Roshan, another lawmaker from western Farah province said, that supporters of Rahmani and Ousli had taken the Wolesi Jirga hostage over the past eight days.
She said the lawmakers were not considering national interest and instead trying to serve their personal interests.
Mirwais Yasini from eastern Nangarhar province said the issue could be solved through implementation of law in this regard. He accused the Rahmani team of not accepting the law.
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