nationalists, both the left and right of the political spectrum, entrepreneurs and industrialists, political liberals, a small leftist group, as well as conservative Muslim leaders who still opposed secularization. This was Afghanistan's 12th parliament, so there must have been three more National Assembly elections in 1955-62. 1969 The 1969 parliamentary elections, with voter turnout not much higher than in 1965, produced a parliament that more or less reflected the distribution of power and population of rural Afghanistan - conservative landowners and businessmen predominated, and many more non-Pashtuns were elected than in the previous legislature. Most of the urban liberals and all female delegates lost their seats. Few leftists were in the new 13th parliament, although Babrak Karmal and Hafizullah Amin (a mathematics teacher educated in the United States) were elected from districts in and near the capital Kabul. Republic of Afghanistan (1973–1978) Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978-1992) 1987 In 1987, the Soviet-backed Afghan communist government introduced a law permitting the formation of other political parties, announced that it would be prepared to share power with representatives of opposition groups in the event of a coalition government, and issued a new constitution providing for a new bicameral National Assembly (Meli Shura), consisting of a Senate (Sena) and a House of Representatives (Wolesi Jirga), and a president to be indirectly elected to a 7-year term. Local elections were held throughout the country in August 1987, with a considerable number of the elected representatives reported to be non-PDPA members. On September 30, Mohammad Najibullah was unanimously elected as President of the Revolutionary Council. In November 1987, a Loya jirga unanimously elected Najibullah as President of the State. 1988 In April 1988, elections were held for both houses of the new National Assembly. The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) won 46 seats in the House of Representatives and controlled the government with support from the National Front, which won 45 seats, and from various newly recognized left-wing parties, which had won a total of 24 seats. Although the election was boycotted by the Mujahideen, the government left 50 of the 234 seats in the House of Representatives, as well as a small number of seats in the Senate, vacant in the hope that the guerrillas would end their armed struggle and participate in the government. Islamic State of Afghanistan 1992 Following the withdrawal of Soviet troops and the ouster of the communist government