By Hamid Shalizi
KABUL, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Supreme Court will rule on Monday on whether a deal to open parliament on Wednesday, brokered between President Hamid Karzai and new members of the assembly, can go ahead, a senior minister said.
Afghanistan has been plunged into political turmoil by a standoff between members of parliament and Karzai over when the new assembly should open, after he last week ordered another month's delay to allow more time for fraud investigations.
That would have seen members of parliament take their seats more than five months after a parliamentary poll, and the members rebelled, condemning Karzai's decision as unconstitutional and threatening to take their seats with or without him.
Karzai is believed to be unhappy about the poll results, which have left the assembly with a larger, more vocal and coherent opposition bloc than in the last parliament.
The wrangling is the latest crisis to distract Karzai to the dismay of the United States and Afghanistan's other allies who want to see the government focus on improving security and governance in the face of an expanding Taliban insurgency.
After long talks on Saturday, Karzai made a tentative deal to inaugurate the session on Wednesday, but the two sides argued about details of the process.
On Monday, Karzai firmly committed himself to going ahead with the opening, but referred the move to the Supreme Court for approval, Humayoun Azizi, minister of parliamentary affairs, told reporters after meeting MPs.
The president is seeking judicial approval because the month's delay was granted at the request of a Supreme Court subsidiary -- a special election court that Karzai himself set up -- which sought more time to chase poll corruption cases.
"The president delayed the inauguration of parliament based on the request from the special court, so the issue has been referred to the Supreme Court once again," said Azizi. The Supreme Court will announce its decision on Monday, he added.
Assembly members originally demanded the abolition of the special court before parliament's inauguration, while Karzai wanted a written guarantee that the MPs would still submit to the judicial system if found guilty once installed.
The two sides have now agreed to set those issues aside.
"MPs will discuss the special court once the parliament is opened but would never accept any rulings it makes," said Mohammad Sarwar Usmani, an unofficial leader of the group.
It was set up by Karzai, ostensibly to ensure a speedy final check of complaints from the fraud-riddled Sept. 18 election.
But critics say it is designed to serve his political agenda rather than the interests of justice, and raises wider questions about his respect for rule of law. (Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Robert Birsel) (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com)
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