Nazir Ahmadzai elected as Wolesi Jirga deputy speaker

KABUL on Tuesday elected lawmaker Nazir Ahmad Ahmadzai as second deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament.

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

Haji Zahir Qadir, a public representative from Nangarhar province, was elected as first deputy speaker and his colleague from Kabul Irfanullah Irfan as deputy secretary.

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

During the second phase of the election on Monday, Abdul Rauf Inami was elected as secretary of the Wolesi Jirga. Zaheer Saadat, a legislator from Panjsher province, and Kuchi representative Nazir Ahmad Ahmadzai competed for deputy speaker.

Based on today’s voting, each candidate required 91 votes to win the seat. But only 42 votes were casted in favour of Zaheer Saadat who failed to win the slot. Nazir Ahmad Ahmadzai emerged the winner by grabbing 93 votes.

Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi told the lower house that the administrative delegation of the house was complete after Ahmadzai’s election as second deputy speaker.

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