Boycott blow to Afghan assembly

Afghanistan's constitutional convention began voting on Thursday, but up to a quarter of the 502 delegates refused to cast ballots for a dra...

Afghanistan’s constitutional convention began voting on Thursday, but up to a quarter of the 502 delegates refused to cast ballots for a draft charter backed by the US after a long, acrimonious meeting.

Men and women from across the country lined up to vote inside an immense tent on a Kabul college campus on proposed amendments to the 160-article draft document, including one giving women more seats in Parliament.

The draft outlines a strong presidential system with a limited role for Parliament. It would also makes Islam the official religion but without Islamic Sharia law. Interim leader Hamid Karzai has endorsed the draft, as have his supporters in the US. But his opponents at the constitutional Loya Jirga, or Grand Assembly, have criticised the process, saying it threatens to create an autocratic political system that sidelines minority groups such as the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras. Karzai is from the largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns, and the constitution could return the group to its traditional position at the centre of Afghan power at the expense of minorities.

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Opposition to Karzai at the Assembly has been led by former President Burhanuddin Rabanni, Uzbek strongman Abdul Rashid Dostum and Islamic conservative Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf.

All are linked to the Northern Alliance, a faction of mainly Tajiks that helped the US topple the hardline Islamic Taliban regime in late 2001. None of the three leaders was seen voting on Thursday.

The Loya Jirga had been scheduled to last for 10 days, but behind-the-scenes wrangling and protests during sessions inside the giant white tent have dragged the assembly into its 18th day. —(Reuters)