Afghanistan's constitutional assembly appeared on the verge of deadlock today as scores of delegates protested for a second day against sweeping powers sought by President Hamid Karzai.
About 150 members of the 502-delegate Loya Jirga, or Grand Assembly, are insisting on a vote on the type of regime Afghanistan will have before debating Mr Karzai's proposed draft constitution, several of the protest leaders said.
"The jirga is heading towards deadlock," said Mr Karim Aimaq, a former mayor of Kabul, and a leader of the protesters. "Delegates have refused to participate in group discussions on Mr Karzai's draft for a second day running."
Mr Karzai has the backing of the international community and is widely seen as the only leader capable of holding the fractious country together.
He needs only a simple majority to endorse the draft constitution intended to take Afghanistan to its first general elections next year and has vowed he will only stand in the polls if there is a strong presidential system.
The protest has been initiated mainly by sections of the Northern Alliance group of commanders, who, backed by the US, helped topple the Taliban in 2001, and are led by former President Burhanuddin Rabbani and General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a key ethnic Uzbek strongman.