Afghanistan to postpone election

AFGHANISTAN will postpone its presidential election until August 20, some four months later than the Constitution specifies, to give incoming US forces more time to stabilise the country’s most violent regions, the national election commission said yesterday.

Opposition lawmakers decried the delay and said they won’t recognise Hamid Karzai as president after May 22 — his last day in office, according to the Constitution. Parliament is set to debate the issue Saturday in a potentially contentious session that could signal whether a constitutional crisis looms.

“If Karzai is in office after May 22, that will be illegal,” said Sayyid Agha Hussain Fazel Sancharaki, spokesman for the National Front, a group of opposition lawmakers. “Nobody is allowed to change the constitution.”