Angry Afghan Lawmakers Disrupt Parliament Over Disputed Vote

FILE: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani with the newly elected members of Wolesi Jirga on May 15.

KABUL -- Chaotic scenes erupted in Afghanistan's lower house of parliament on June 19 amid a weeks-long dispute over the election of a speaker.

Video footage showed angry members of the Wolesi Jirga smashing the speaker's chair and flipping his desk over to prevent businessman Mir Rahman Rahmani from taking his seat.


The violence came the day after Rahmani was elected as speaker -- a result that supporters of the other leading candidate, Kamal Nasir Osuli, refused to recognize.

Afghanistan's general elections in October 2018 were marred by security and organizational issues.

The official results were finalized in May, seven months after the poll.

The new Wolesi Jirga has since been trying to elect a speaker, but disagreements over vote-counting have led to an impasse.

With reporting by dpa