Inami elected as Wolesi Jirga’s secretary

KABUL on Monday elected lawmaker Abdul Rauf Inamai as the lower house’s secretary but again failed to elect the second deputy speaker.

The assembly on Saturday entered its fifth and last legislative year and voted to elect first and deputy speaker, the secretary and his deputy on Sunday.

Lawmaker from Nangarhar Syed Ikram, from Badakhshan Abdul Rauf Inami, from Zabul Abdul Qadir Qalatwal and Kuch tribe representative Hela Irshadi vied for the secretary slot in Sunday’s election.

But none of them could win the required of votes and the election went to a second round between Syed Ikram with 39 votes and Inami with 85 votes. Inami was elected as the Wolesi Jirga’s secretary in Monday’s ballot. He collected 104 votes and Syed Ikram 57.

But today’s election for the deputy speaker position again did not produce a clear winner. The previous contest for the slot was held a day earlier between Mohammad Saleh Saljoqi and Syed Ali Kazmi, but both fell short of the required threshold.

New contesters, Mohammad Arif Rahmani from Ghazni, Farhad Azimi from Balkh, Ghulam Farooq Majrooh from Herat and Mohammad Sarwar Fayez from Badghis province  on Monday failed to obtain the required number of votes to be elected as the deputy speaker.

The election of deputy speaker went to a new round between Azimi and Majrooh, both receiving 60 votes each, but the two again failed to be elected, with Majrooh securing 59 votes and Azimi 61. The minimum required number of votes for the position was 90, while 178 lawmakers were present.

Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi ruled the new round of voting to elect the deputy speaker would take place among new contenders tomorrow (Tuesday).

If the deputy speaker could not be elected tomorrow as well, the final round would take place between the two highest vote winners from the previous rounds. In that round, despite if the 50 plus one threshold could not be met, the most vote-getter will be elected as the deputy speaker, according to the house’s internal procedures.

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