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The combination of the Meshrano Jirga and the election of its chairman in Afghanistan

Khawaja Jamshid Seddiqi‎

Volume 2 Issue 1 | Dec 2020

DOI: 10.31841/KJL.2021.10

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Abstract

The National Assembly is the highest legislative organ of the Islamic Republic of ‎Afghanistan. The National Assembly consists of two houses, (the Wolesi Jirga and the ‎Meshrano Jirga). The Meshrano Jirga is made up of three-thirds. Two-thirds are ‎elected members and one-third are appointed by the president. The term of ‎membership of two-thirds elected members is three years and four years, but the term of ‎membership of appointing members is five years. The difference in the term of ‎membership of the elected and appointed members has raised questions about the ‎election of the Speaker of the House of Meshrano Jirga. The speaker of the ‎Meshrano Jirga must be elected for a legislative term. The term of membership of ‎elected members does not correspond to a legislative period. The constitution does ‎not prohibit the election of elected members to the presidency of the Meshrano ‎Jirga, but emphasizes the election of a speaker for a legislative term. It seems that the difference ‎in the term of membership of the elected members does not prevent them from ‎being elected to the presidency of the Meshrano Jirga, because, when elected members elected by the relevant councils, they lost their membership in those ‎councils. If one of the elected members elected as speaker of Meshrano Jirga they got their legitimacy from ‎the vote of members of Meshrano Jirga.‎