 |
House of the People ولسی جرگه Wolesi Jirga | |
|---|---|
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| Type | |
| Type | of the National Assembly |
| History | |
| Founded | 1931[1] |
| Disbanded | 15 August 2021 |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 250 |
Length of term | 5 years |
| Meeting place | |
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Afghan_parliament_building_2015.jpg) | |
| Kabul | |
| Website | |
| wj.parliament.af (dead) (16 August 2021 archive) | |
The House of Representatives of the People, or Da Afghanistan Wolesi Jirga (Pashto: دَ افغانستان ولسي جرګه), was the lower house of the bicameral National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, alongside the upper House of Elders.
The House of Representatives of the People was the chamber that bore the greater burden of lawmaking in the country, as with the House of Commons in the Westminster model. It consisted of 250 delegates directly elected by single non-transferable vote.[2] Members were elected by district and served for five years. The constitution guaranteed at least 68 delegates to be female. Kuchi nomads elect 10 representatives through a Single National Constituency.
The House of Representatives of the People[3] had the primary responsibility for making and ratifying laws and approving the actions of the president. The first elections in decades were held in September 2005, four years after the fall of the Taliban regime, still under international (mainly UN and NATO) supervision.
The 2010 Wolesi Jirga election was held on 18 September 2010 [4][5] and the 2018 Wolesi Jirga election was held on 20 October 2018 after almost three years of delay[6][7] The new Parliament was later inaugurated on 26 April 2019.[8]
It was effectively dissolved when the Taliban seized power on 15 August 2021.[9] The Taliban did not include the House of the People and several other agencies of the former government in its first national budget in May 2022. Government spokesman Innamullah Samangani said that due to the financial crisis, only active agencies were included in the budget, and the excluded ones had been dissolved, but noted they could be brought back "if needed".[10]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
wolesiyirgahistorywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Fact Sheet: Single Non-Transferable Vote (SNTV) System" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 October 2005.
- ^ "This Afghan MP Has Been In Hot Water Before, But Trashing A Pastry Shop Takes The Cake". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
- ^ "Afghans brave Taliban to vote in parliamentary election". BBC News Online. 18 September 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
- ^ "March 25, 2010: IEC Press Release on 2010 Wolesi Jirga Election Timeline" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2010.
- ^ "Afghans defy deadly poll violence". BBC News. 21 October 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
- ^ "Press Release of the IEC Change of Election date". iec.org.af. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
- ^ "Ghani Inaugurates Afghanistan's Parliament | TOLOnews". Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
- ^ Ziar Khan Yaad (14 September 2021). "Fate of Afghanistan's National Assembly Unclear". TOLOnews. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
- ^ Eqbal, Saqalain (17 May 2022). "The Taliban Dissolves the Human Rights Commission and Five Other Key Departments, Declaring them "Unnecessary"". The Khaama Press Agency. Retrieved 3 July 2022.