Competition for speaker's post

Afghanistan is now close to getting its first new parliament since 1965. The September 18 election to the lower house and the November 12 elections to the upper house are now finished. In the coming days, the main bone of contention will likely be around who is to stand at the head of parliament as National Assembly speaker. The jockeying for this position may shed a little more light on future political trends in the parliament. Prior to the September election, Mohammad Younus Qanuni, head of the New Afghanistan Party (Hezb-e-Afghanistan-e-Nawin), was considered the front-runner. While Qanuni still remains one of the top contenders for the job, his position as favourite is being challenged by former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani and the leader of the Islamic Unity Party of the People of Afghanistan (Hezb-e-Wahdat-e-Mardum-e-Afghanistan), Mohammad Muhaqeq. Rabbani, like Qanuni, is a Tajik, and his son-in-law Ahmad Zia Massoud is currently first vice-president of Afghanistan. These two factors may have a negative effect on Qanuni’s bid to win the top job.