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Provincial Polls Should Precede Presidential Vote: MPs

Provincial Polls Should Precede Presidential Vote: MPs

KABUL - WJ members on Wednesday said they would talk to President Karzai and the Independent Election Commission (IEC) over conducting provincial elections ahead of the presidential polls because the service term of two-thirds senators would end in February.

Both presidential and provincial elections will be held on April 5, 2014. Some lower house members said the provincial elections should come before the presidential as most Mesharano Jirga members would leave the house in February.

Under article 84 of the constitution, one-thirds members of the upper house represent provincial councils, one-thirds district councils, and one thirds are being appointed by the President in the 102-member house.

"The provincial council elections should come before the service term of two-thirds senate members ends in order to send more members from provincial councils to the house," lawmaker Syed Husain Alami Balkhi told the Wolesi Jirga.

He suggested the issue should be raised with the president and the IEC in order to avoid problems in passing laws and taking decisions of national interest.

Wolesi Jirga speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi lent his weight behind Balkhi's remarks, saying election commission officials be summoned to discuss the issue before sharing it with the President. (Pajhwok)