Afghan parliament opening postponed a month

The opening of Afghanistan's new parliament has been delayed by a month, President Hamid Karzai's office said Wednesday. A top judge has demanded more time to rule on alleged election irregularities.

Reuters/Omar Sobhani

The new Wolesi Jirga had been due to be inaugurated on 23 January but the ceremony has now been pushed back to 22 February to allow a special tribunal of the Supreme Court to decide whether the election of some MPs should be ruled invalid.

September's parliamentary elections were hit by fraud and violence, leading election officials to disqualify 24 early winners and the attorney general's office to call for the results to be annulled

Karzai himself has yet to endorse the outcome.

A statement by the president’s office announced the postponement but insisted that the inauguration would take place on 22 February "without any further delay".

In an apparent reference to the court's work, the statement said that Karzai's office "demands that all required actions be taken in this period."

The special tribunal led by Judge Sidiqullah Haqiq is looking at over 400 cases of alleged fraud.

Haqiq told the AFP news agency this week that final rulings in the cases were "far away."

Meanwhile, leading Afghan journalist Razaq Mamoon is in hospital on Wednesday after someone sprayed acid on his face and hands. Mamoon, a former television anchorman and current political analyst, has been critical of the country's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns. Karzai is a member of the Pashtun group.

Thirteen civilians including women and children were killed Wednesday by a Taliban-style roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, officials said.