Tribunal's announcements likely will face either a legal or political challenge

KABUL - Wolesi Jirga secretary, his deputy and the acting speaker are among 62 lawmakers facing disqualification in the wake a special election tribunal's verdict, it was learnt on Friday.
Secretary Abdul Qadir Qalatwal, his deputy Mohammad Farhad Azeemi and the acting speaker, Mohammad Sarwar Usmani, have been declared as losing candidates and are likely to be unseated in line with the five-judge court's decision. A vote recount shows Qalatwal from southern Zabul province had obtained 519 votes during last year's parliamentary election, while Azeemi from Balkh 108,234 votes and Usmani from Farah 2149 votes, less than those won by their rival candidates, according to the court's findings. The special tribunal overturned nearly 25 percent of last year's legislative election results Thursday, alleging massive fraud.

Lawmakers on the parliament floor shouted about the "illegal" special tribunal and threatened to hold demonstrations against what they saw as a power grab by President Karzai.
The panel appointed by Karzai on Thursday threw out results for 62 races in the 249-seat legislative body. Special Court Judge Sidiqullah Haqiq said the panel will reconvene on Saturday, meaning even more results could be overturned.

The panel detailed some of the fraud it said it had uncovered from the September 2010 election - including one race in Kunduz province in which the tribunal said it counted 20,000 votes for someone marked as receiving zero. "There was protest and even some killings in the provinces," Haqiq said.
Election officials discarded 1.3 million ballots from the poll - nearly a quarter of the total - and disqualified 19 winning candidates.
The Supreme Court set up the special tribunal in December after it received more than 400 complaints and lawsuits over the poll, Haqiq said.
During Thursday's hearings, judges simply declared new winners for the races after offering their new tabulations. Haqiq said their re-counting and investigations were monitored by different groups to ensure fairness.

It remains unclear what the next step is for the election winners declared by the special tribunal - or whether lawmakers already receiving government perks and bodyguards would cede their position. The tribunal's announcements likely will face either a legal or political challenge.
The court had recounted votes in 27 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, declaring 62 new winning candidates, who would be introduced to the Independent Election Commission for holding seats in the 249-seat parliament.

Six new candidates were declared winners in Herat, five in Kabul and one to four each in the rest of the provinces.
The six winners from Herat include Nisar Ahmad Ghoryani with 12975 votes, Rahim Jami with 1991, Zireen Zireen with 4059, Nasir Attai with 4524, Waheed Tahiri with 442 and Maroof Fazli with 4297 votes.

They replace the sitting MPs including Manawar Shah Bahadari, 3055 votes, Haji Khalil Ahmad Shaheed, 3236 votes, Mohammad Rafiqui Shaheer, 3918, Mohammad Arif Tayeb, 2607, Ahmad Farhad Mujeebi, 3844, and Simin Barakzai 1090 votes.
Five new winners have been declared for Kabul. They include Jamil Karzai with 3542 votes, Haji Ihsan Sahibzada with 3329 votes, Baidar Zazi with 3099 votes, Abdul Qadir Watandost with 3031 votes and Robina Jalali with 1322 votes. They may replace the sitting MPs including Dr. Obaidullah Kalimzai, 2517 votes, Sharifullah Kamawal, 2265 votes, Hafiz Mansoor, 2708 votes, and Fuzia Nasiryar Guldara, 790 votes.

Four candidates have been declared as winners from southern Ghazni province, which had 11 seats in the lower house. The winners include Mohammad Daud Sultanzoy, 11063 votes, Abdul Halim Dalili, 10451 votes, Mamor Abdul Jabbar Shalgari, 9381 votes and Niaz Mohammad Aimir, 5356 votes. The sitting lawmakers from Ghazni include Mohammad Arif Rahmani, 4325 votes, Khudad Irfani, 4612 votes, Chaman Shah Eitamadi, 3557 votes, and Mohammad Ali Alizada, 2623 votes.
On the 11 seats in the house for eastern Nangahar province, Malik Nazir, 4670 votes, and Matiur Rahman, 4264 votes, have been declared as new winners, who replace Haji Pir Bakhsh, 4190 votes, and Syed Ikram having the same number of votes.

Four candidates were declared winners for Kandahar province. they are Haji Mohammad Ayub, 6009 votes, Haji Mohammad Noor, 3417 votes, Niaz Mohammad Habib Lalai, 3356 votes and Abdul Karim Achakzai, 3063 votes.
The sitting MPs from Kandahar are Dr. Mohammad Khan, 2317 votes, Haji Mohammad Omar Nangyali, 2714 votes, Mohammad Naeem Lali Hameedi, 2523 votes and Attaullah Jan Habibi, 2533 votes.

All four sitting lawmakers from Badghis province are facing disqualification. The new winners are Raees Mohammad Omar with 7283 votes, Habibullah Qadsi with 6469 votes, Abdul Latif Jan with 5758 votes and Azita Raffat with 3418 votes. They may replace Safya Eimaq, 2404 votes, Ghulam Sarwar Fayez, 3884 votes, Mohammad Musa Janab Sahib, 5373 votes and Qazi Abdul Rahim, 3943 votes.
Zabul has three seats in the house and all of them are to be replaced with the new ones including Hameedullah Tokhi, 1413 votes, Haji Ismail Zabuli, 934 votes and Toorpekai, 433 votes. The sitting MPs are Abdul Qadir Qalatwal, 519 votes, Zuhra Tokhi, 400 votes and Abdul Habib Andiwal, 613 votes.

For Laghman, new winners are Gul Mari Laghmani, 2580 votes, Abdul Hadi Wahidi, 8427 votes. They replace Naqibullah 5815 votes and Zofnon Sapi 2533 votes.
For central Logar province, Asadullah Wafa won 310 votes replacing Sahib Khan for 22 votes short.
For Paktika, Mohammad Khan Suliman was declared as winner by obtaining 15413 votes, and Dr. Khudija 1449 votes. The sitting MPs are Syed Ishaq Gilani 4533 votes and Najya 1382 votes.
In Jawzjan, Roz Mohammad Roz had won 6141 votes, replacing Haji Mohammad Ismail, 2789 votes.
Ashiqullah Wafa was declared winner for obtaining 6067 votes in Baghlan against his rival candidate, Mohammad Zahir Ghanizada, 1955 votes. Another new candidate from the province is Mohammad Nasim Mudabbir, 5487 votes against Dilawar Eimaq's 2833 votes.

Samangan has four seats. The new winners are Ahmad Khan Samangani, 20372 votes, Raees Khairullah, 5826 votes and Mehbooba, 2624 votes. The sitting MPs are Makhdom Mohibullah Furqani, 5253 votes, Mohammad Tahir Zaheer, 3935 votes and Masooma Khawri, 2006 votes.
Kunduz has nine seats in the lower house. The new winners are Noorudin Baig, 3875 votes, Fazl Karim Eimaf, 2878 votes, Raeesa Hussainkhel, 2180 votes. They may replace Khayest Baz Nasir, 2458 votes, Syed Daud Nadari, 2450 votes, and Fatima Aziz, 1684 votes.
From Badakhshan, Abdul Rauf, 12029 votes, Abdul Shakoor Qaqif Hakimi 8654 votes, and Munir Bahar with 3757 votes have been declared as winners, replacing Abdul Wali Niazi, 5095 votes, Safiullah Muslim, 6749 votes and Nilofar Ibrahimi, 2624 votes.

From Takhar, Qari Mohammad Hashim Hekal, 6274 votes, has been declared as winner, replacing Syed Ikramuddin Masomi, 6048 votes.
For Ghor, Maulvi Din Mohammad, 4895 votes and Fazl Ahmad Khan, 2520 votes were declared new winners. They replace Khaghalai Bahar, 897 votes and Qurban Kohistani, 666 votes.
Haji Painda Mohammad from Sari Pul with 3923 votes replaces Mohammad Hussain Fahimi, 3346 votes.
Replacing Abdul Jabbar, 1791 votes, from Helmand, Muallim Mirwali had won 2315 votes.

Wahidullah Kaleemzai from Maidan Wardak had won 3340 votes, replacing Abdul Majeed Wardak, 1320 votes.
Nuristan has two seats. Noorullah Mimar, 4511 votes, replaces Maulvi Ahmadullah Moahid, 1004 votes.
Abul Wali Hamedi, 4310 votes and Masood Bakhtwar, 3672 votes, have been declared winners from Farah province, replacing Mohammad Sarwar Usmani, the acting speaker, 2149 votes, and Haji Mamoor Musa, 2654 votes.

From Frayab, Gul Mohammad Pehlawan, 7975 votes, Najibullah Saleemi, 7750 votes, Sultanat Kohi, 1469 votes are winners. They replace Asifa Shadab, 1426 votes, Mohammad Shakir Kargar, 6902 votes and Mohammad Hashim Ortaq 7259 votes.
Khost: Hayatullah Wazir, 4343 votes and Wali Khan Helaman, 3236 votes, to replace Humayun, 3107 votes and Liaqatullah Babkarkhel, 1604 votes.
Paktia: Dilwar Totakhel, 1410 votes, replaces Mohammad Ibrahim Ghakhtali, 618 votes.

Kuchi tribe has 10 seats in the lower house. Abdul Qadir Kuchi, 4573 votes, replaces Haider Khan Naeemzoy, 2779 votes.
However, the special court said its decision was not final and the replacing candidates had the right of appeal.
The recount shows increase and decrease in number of votes obtained by the sitting MPs.

There were little differences in number of votes cast in Kapisa, Uruzgan, Nimroz, Dai Kundi, Kunar and Parwan provinces. The vote recount had not affect on the previous results from these provinces, according to the special court's verdict. (Pajhwok)