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An elected Afghani parliament met
on December 19, for the first time since
1979. It was four years after the overthrow of the
Taliban and the culmination of
the US-led plan to free
Afghani men, women and children and instill democracy
after three decades of
warring. |
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Most
candidates who won ran as independents.
This makes it difficult to identify
where power will lie in Afghanistan's
249-seat legislature. Western diplomats and political analysts
believe that supporters of the US-backed
Karzai are in the majority.
Election results were initially scheduled
for release in October. Baheen Sultan
Ahmad, a spokesman for the Joint Electoral Management Body,
said, "We have now finalized all the results." |
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Ali Amiri, a respected
political analyst and local author on Afghan affairs,
said, "The government has the support of more than 50 percent
in the parliament... There are some small
opposition groups, but nothing big enough to challenge Karzai." |
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This
election was hailed as the
last formal step toward having a
representative government in Afghanistan after a quarter century of
war that left more than 1 million people dead. |
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The
massive exercise in postwar democracy has been welcomed by many,
especially women. Women never had a voice
in politics. A quarter of the new
parliamentary seats are reserved for women. |
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Sixty-eight
women were elected to the new legislature.
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