Kabul: Nearly 100 to contest lower house elections

KABUL (Pajhwok): Ninety-four persons, including 79 incumbent members of the Wolesi Jirga, have decided to take part in the October 20 parliamentary election in the country.

Findings of Pajhwok Afghan News show 10 percent of all these possible contenders that included 28 women are businesspersons.

Members of Wolesi Jirga’s 16^th legislative period:

Of every 10 current lawmakers, eight have said they will take part in the upcoming Wolesi Jirga polls.

Ihsanullah Sabibzada, Allah Gul Mujahid, Anwar Khan Oria, Rmazan Bashardost, Abdul Hafeez Mansour, Qais Hassan, Daud Kalakani, Mir Amanullah Guzar and 26 others lawmakers have said they will contest the upcoming lower house election.

Farkhanda Zahra Naderi, Mohammad Younis Qanoni had said they had not yet decided to contest the upcoming poll or not while Baktash Syawash, Shukria Barakzai and Sharifullah Kamawal could not reached for the contact.

Members of Wolesi Jirga’s 15^th legislative period:

Nine members of Wolesi Jirga’s 15^th legislative period have been able to penetrate into the 16^th legislative period of the lower house while of the remaining members of the 15^th legislative period currently only three --- Baidar Zazai, Jamil Karzai and Abbas Noyan --- had said that they would contest the upcoming Wolesi Jirga polls.

Eleven more lawmakers which included Mohammad Ibrahim Qasimi, Qadia Yazdan Parast, Mohammad Ismail, Abdul Kabir, Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf, Sabrena Saqib and others could not be reached for comments.

New candidates:

Pajhwok Afghan News has learnt that at least 65 new faces had decided to contest the Wolesi Jirga election for the first time. Pajhwok may not had been able to contact some individuals who want to contest election for the first time.

Ajmal Gulab, Ahmad Shah Sangdil, Etebar Zazai, Abdul Hai Malik,  Abdul Sabour Rahmani, Abdul  Qayyum Naderi, Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhel, Mohammad Idress Stanikza are some of the new faces wishing to contest the upcoming polls.

Traders:

Almost half of the people who want to contest the October 20 polls are traders. According to Pajhwok of the 67 individuals 42 percent are businesspersons, two are journalist and the remaining are government officials, members of political parties and employees of private organisations.

Lack of women:

Among the new contenders three while among the current lawmakers seven women want to contest the future Wolesi Jirga polls.

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