Afghanistan's constitutional convention has begun voting, but up to a quarter of the 502 delegates have refused to cast ballots for a draft charter backed by the United States.
| "We can't win, so we ain't gonna vote, so there!" |
Men and women from across the country lined up on Thursday to vote inside an immense tent at a Kabul college campus on proposed amendments to the 160-article draft document, including one giving women more seats in parliament. The draft outlines a strong presidential system with a limited role for parliament. It would also make Islam the official religion, but without Islamic sharia law. Interim leader Hamid Karzai has endorsed the draft, as have his supporters in the US, who want to see him run for president in elections scheduled for next June. Karzai has argued a strong presidency is needed to rebuild the country after two decades of civil strife. But his opponents at the constitutional Loya Jirga, or Grand Assembly, have criticised the process, saying it threatens to create an autocratic political system that sidelines minority groups such as the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras.
| Hmmm... Damned if you do, damned if you don't, huh? |
Karzai is from the largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns, and the constitution could return the group to its traditional position at the centre of Afghan power at the expense of minorities.
| That tradition is why Afghanistan is so blissful... |
"This Loya Jirga is not a step towards stability," said delegate Wali Massoud, brother of legendary Tajik commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, assassinated by al-Qaida over two years ago. Opposition to Karzai at the assembly has been led by former President Burhanudin Rabanni, Uzbek strongman Abdelrashid Dostum and Islamic conservative Abd al-Rab Rasool Sayyaf. All are linked to the Northern Alliance, a faction of mainly Tajiks that helped the United States topple the hardline Islamic Taliban regime in late 2001. None of the three leaders was seen voting on Thursday. Delegates were voting on amendments governing the powers of the presidency, whether minority languages would be given national status and if seats in parliament should be reserved
for women and nomads. |