With the Independent Election Commission (IEC) due to declare the final results of the Parliamentary elections within days, everyone is wondering about the composition of the new legislature. Preliminary results showed that 168 out of 249 people’s representatives will be new figures. The list encompasses almost all strata of society, including highly educated people, local commanders, businessmen and representatives of powerful parties.

Now that the final list is almost complete, many are questioning whether the new body will be any more capable and effective than the old one.

Some analysts believe that, given the high level of dissatisfaction with the legislature among the people, the new Parliament will work harder to please their constituents.

Political analyst Dr. Muhiuddin Mehdi, who appears to be on the winners’ list, believes that the new Parliament will contain a number of energetic and open-minded individuals, who will be willing to tackle various types of reforms. This, he hopes, will lead to a more effective legislature, better able to act as a counterweight to the other branches of government. This, in turn, should help the Parliament to gain the trust of the people.

“Parliament should not be considered an anti-government power,” he said. “There is no powerful political party in Afghanistan; except for a few candidates all the others are independent. So it is necessary for the Parliament to work for the improvement of the country and monitor government activities in a proper manner. The government should also respect the Parliament and accept its decisions.”

According to Mehdi, it was the lack of effectiveness in the previous Parliament that caused voters to eject the old-timers.

“The ineffectiveness of the parliament damaged the reputation of some competent MPs as well, and they were not able to retain their seats,” he said.

People criticized the current Parliament for making deals with the government, ignoring its role as monitor of government actions, he added.

But some observers are skeptical that the new Parliament will be any better than its predecessor. They say majority of commanders and businessmen who spent a lot of money during their election were able to get into Parliament, and they will concentrate more on recouping their investment than working for the good of their constituents.

“Afghans have lost faith in the government,” said Faizullah Jalal, a lecturer in political science at Kabul University. “This is due to the lack of monitoring of the government’s affairs, as well as an absence of a system of rewards and punishment. This has caused everyone to try to get a seat in Parliament for his or her own advantage. This is why it is hard to see the possibility of any constructive actions by the new Parliament.”

Jalal added that President Hamid Karzai’s authoritarian manner, as well as his lack of respect for the decisions of the current Parliament have undermined the effectiveness of the legislature as an institution.

“The current Parliament has tried to work in line with the Constitution in some cases and has monitored government’s activities,” said Jalal. “But a lack of respect for the Parliament’s decisions has isolated it. Some of the parliamentarians were given money and some of them were convinced not to think about reforms.”

The weakness of the Parliament became obvious when the president disregarded its rejection of his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rangin Dadfur Spanta. Karzai kept Spanta in place for two years after a no-confidence vote in the legislature. Karzai has also kept many of his ministerial picks on for long periods of time after they were rejected by Parliament. This violates the Constitution.

Karzai issued a presidential decree amending the Election Law, which was unanimously rejected by Parliament. Nevertheless, it went into effect and many MPs ran in accordance with a law they had legally disavowed.

But still, there has been progress, says political analyst and unsuccessful candidate Haroon Mir.

“We saw that MPs spent years familiarizing themselves with the principles of Parliament,” he said. “Parliament was a new institution in the country. When MPs became aware of their rights, they showed good results; they were able to monitor the government’s activities in its last year of work very well. “

But according to Mir, two-third of the candidates who were critical of government activities were not able to gain seats in the Parliament, so he is not very optimistic about the effectiveness of the new body.

But others think that the new Parliament will be an improvement. They believe that looking at the experience of the first parliament will allow the new MPs to regain credibility for the legislature and work as it should.

Ahmad Behzad, who seems to have retained his seat in the new Parliament, is upbeat.

“The majority of the winning candidates are new individuals and it is difficult to comment about how they will behave,” he said. “But there are large numbers of well-known people on the new list, as well as many critics of the government, so I am happy and confident that the new Parliament will be better than the old one.”

One of the main reasons for Parliament’s inability to perform is the lack of a cohesive party structure. All candidates run as independents, which leads to each MP representing only himself.

Many are convinced that amending the Election Law is a must before real improvement can be seen. The current system should give way to one where parties can field candidates and be represented as parties.

“The current Election Law itself is causing problems,” said Haroon Mir.