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Kandahar
Votes For Loya Jirga, Delegates Opt For King, Karzai
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An
Afghan carpenter works on the floor of a tent being used for
Afghanistan's Loya Jirga, or grand tribal assembly |
KANDAHAR,
June 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Elections to select
delegates to the Loya Jirga were held in Kandahar Sunday, June 2, with
many candidates declaring they would back former Afghan king Mohammed
Zahir Shah and his ally Hamid Karzai at the traditional assembly.
Karzai,
the popular leader of the current Afghan interim administration,
should be appointed prime minister with Zahir Shah named head of state
at this month's assembly which will select a new transitional
government, they said, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“We
want the Loya Jirga to bring security and to determine the destiny of
the country. We will elect somebody who is well known and who has
proved they will serve the country,” said Amanullah from Zabul
province.
“Zahir
Shah is acceptable for the country. Zahir Shah should be the leader
and Karzai should be the prime minister,” he said.
“We
believe in Zahir Shah because he ruled Afghanistan for 40 years of
peace.”
Zahir
Shah, 87, who returned to Afghanistan last month after 29 years in
exile in Italy, has said he would accept a nomination to become head
of state and that it was “essential” that Hamid Karzai continues
to lead the government.
The
second and last round of voting for the Loya Jirga took place in
Kandahar region Sunday, with delegates elected in the first round
traveling to Kandahar city from several surrounding provinces.
Each
group of about 20 will vote for two representatives who will be among
a total of 1,501 delegates due to gather from June 10 in Kabul to
select a transitional government to run Afghanistan for up to two
years.
Around
two-thirds of the delegates have been indirectly elected in the
regions while the remainder are representatives from interest groups
such as women, refugees and Afghanistan's large nomadic population.
Election
officials presiding Sunday over second-round elections from
neighboring Zabul province said the first round had passed off
relatively peacefully but there were some incidences of intimidation
reported.
One
official, Daud Ahmadi, said that in Zabul’s main town of Qalat,
provincial governor Hamidullah Tokhi had barred the voting and sent a
list of his own delegates to the election body.
His
suggestion was rejected and the election commission in Kandahar
decided to select two deputies to represent Qalat town.
The
Zabul voting, an all-male affair conducted at a high school, was held
under tight security with sniffer dogs checking for bombs and the
roads leading to the compound sealed off.
Meanwhile,
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami will visit Afghanistan next week
before the Loya Jirga traditional assembly begins, said foreign
affairs spokesman Omar Samad.
“There
is a plan for Mr. Khatami to come to Kabul in the next six or seven
days, before the Loya Jirga,” he said. The assembly, which will
select a new transitional government, will be held from June 10-16.
“He
will meet the Afghan leadership, and Hamid Karzai will be his main
host,” said Samad, who noted that the last Iranian leader to visit
Afghanistan was the Shah of Iran.
Karzai,
the head of the interim government, invited Khatami to visit
Afghanistan when he went to Tehran in February.
The
two men will discuss “Iran's role in the reconstruction of
Afghanistan, regional and security issues of concern to both sides,
the evolution of the political process in Afghanistan and the Loya
Jirga,” Samad said.
Also
on the agenda will be “terrorism and how Iran can assist Afghanistan
to combat terrorism and extremism.”
An
Afghan diplomat in Tehran said earlier Sunday that Khatami would make
a one-day visit to Kabul on June 9.
Iran,
an ally of the Northern Alliance which backed by U.S.-bombing raids,
overthrew the Taliban government at the end of last year, has pledged
its support to Karzai, while being accused by the United States of
working to destabilize it.
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