The new lawmakers in the Wolesi Jirga, the Lower House of the Parliament, on Saturday elected Mir Rahman Rahmani as the new speaker of the house.
Rahmani, an MP from Parwan, is a former military general who has completed his studies in Russia in 1982.
The second round of the voting for the election of the Wolesi Jirga speaker was held on Saturday in which Rahmani got 123 votes and his close competitor Kamal Nasir Osuli, an MP from Paktia, got 55 votes.
Some MPs opposed the decision to announce Rahmani as speaker of the house as they said that he has not received the required votes for the post.
In the first round of the voting on May 16, four MPs, including Mir Rahman Rahmani, Kamal Naser Osuli, Mirwais Yasini, and Omar Nasir Mujadadedi were competing for securing the seat of the house speaker, in which Rahmani and Osuli got the highest votes and succeeded to enter the next round.
In the first round, Rahmani got 75 votes, Osuli 69 votes, Yasini 59 and Mujaddedi got seven votes.
