By Jonathon Burch
KABUL, Dec 13 (Reuters) - About 100 Afghan members of parliament demanded on Monday that President Hamid Karzai inaugurate the assembly by Dec. 19, almost three weeks after final results of a fraud-marred election were declared.
Afghanistan&${esc.hash}39;s political crisis has been simmering since even before the much-criticised Sept. 18 ballot, with tension rising on reports the attorney general&${esc.hash}39;s office had asked for the vote to be annulled.
The troubles send a worrying message of ongoing instability to U.S. President Barack Obama as he completes a review of his Afghanistan war strategy this week.
Consistent allegations of vote fraud in the September poll, as well as in a presidential election last year, have raised questions about the credibility of Karzai and his government as a partner at a time when U.S. and NATO leaders are assessing their long-term commitment to Afghanistan.
Final general election results from the country&${esc.hash}39;s 34 provinces were released on Dec. 1. Poll officials had said late in November that a new parliament could be formed within a week but there has been no attempt to convene the assembly.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has accused the attorney general&${esc.hash}39;s office of "irresponsible statements" and warned of a political crisis after local media reported he had called for election results to be cancelled. [ID:nSGE6BB00V]
About 100 MPs, calling themselves The Administrative Board of the Parliament, issued a three-point declaration after gathering at the legislature to discuss their next move.
"We call on the president to inaugurate parliament," the group said in a declaration given to Reuters by Fawzia Kufi, an outspoken lawmaker from the northeastern province of Badakhshan.
She accused Karzai, who has been critical of the poll, of instigating efforts to have the results cancelled.
Karzai "cannot delay this anymore", she said, referring to the inauguration. The group also said the attorney general&${esc.hash}39;s office and the Supreme Court did not have the authority to interfere in the election process.
"The palace is behind this. Karzai is not happy with the results," Kufi told Reuters.
Karzai is likely to face a larger, more vocal and coherent opposition than the previous chamber.
His spokesman, Waheed Omer, played down the delay in forming a parliament, saying the situation was comparable to those faced by other countries and Karzai would abide by the constitution.
"The current situation is not critical, it is a common situation ... in many world democracies. The democracy in Afghanistan is nascent," Omer told a news conference in Kabul.
"Whatever comes in the light of the law and becomes the (election) result, that should be acceptable to all," he added when asked about whether attempts to annul the election would push the country into a political crisis.
"CONSIDERABLE FRAUD"
Candidates stood as individuals, not as members of parties, and the parliament, like the previous one, is a diverse mixture of representatives of ethnic groups and various political forces as well as independents.
There will likely be larger groups of ethnic Tajiks and Hazaras who may challenge Karzai&${esc.hash}39;s traditional power base among Pashtuns, Afghanistan&${esc.hash}39;s largest ethnic group.
However the Afghan parliament does not have a history of organised opposition and members tend to vote along tribal and ethnic lines, or according to personal positions on issues.
Attorney General Ishaq Aloko, who was appointed by Karzai, has not been available for comment since Afghan television reported late on Saturday that his office had asked the Supreme Court to cancel the election results.
Hafizullah Hafiz, the head of the complaints section in the attorney general&${esc.hash}39;s office, said a letter had been sent to the court asking it to scrap the results and order a recount.
The legality of such a move was in doubt, analysts said.
The parliamentarians&${esc.hash}39; declaration also said neither the Supreme Court nor the attorney general&${esc.hash}39;s office had any authority "to interfere in the election process".
Supreme Court spokesman Abdul Wakil Omari said candidates could refer individual complaints to the court but was vague when asked whether it had the authority to cancel the whole election.
The court had not received anything from the attorney general&${esc.hash}39;s office, he said.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan has congratulated election officials for conducting a vote in the middle of an insurgency, but has also noted "considerable fraud" took place.
It also said on Dec. 1 it looked forward to the "prompt" inauguration of the 249-seat wolesi jirga, or lower house.
Dozens of candidates and election officials are being investigated and the IEC has thrown out about a quarter of the 5.6 million votes cast as fake.
Some candidates and supporters have been protesting since last month, calling for the result to be scrapped. (Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by Andrew Marshall) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan) (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to newsfeedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com)
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