Attorney General receives vote of no confidence

KABUL’s parliament, issued a vote of no confidence against Attorney General Mohammad Ishaq Alako on Thursday after he failed to appear before them.

The lower house had summoned Alako on Wednesday over his involvement with the special election court.

The court – which some members of parliament contend is unconstitutional – delivered its verdict Thursday on the conduct of September’s disputed parliamentary election. The court found that election fraud occurred in 33 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, and says that a number of current MPs are disqualified from retaining their seats.

The Wolesi Jirga consists of 250 seats. Of the 134 MPs who were present Thursday, 133 gave the attorney general a vote of no confidence.

On Wednesday, the lower house had also summoned three Supreme Court justices, including the chief justice, all of whose terms of office have expired. Deputy Speaker Farhad Azimi told the Wolesi Jirga today that the four individuals had been sent a letter to appear before the court Thursday.

Both the Attorney General’s office and the Supreme Court responded that parliament had no authority to do such a thing.

After issuing the vote of no confidence against Alako, the MPs decided to discuss the fate of the judges in upcoming sessions.

mrh/at

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