SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region — The Kirkuk Provincial Council is set to hold its first session on Thursday, as requested by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. The session will address key issues, including the election of a new governor and the formation of a new local government for the province, marking over six months since the December 18, 2023, local elections.
For the first time in 18 years, the multi-ethnic province of Kirkuk participated in Iraq’s provincial elections, along with 15 other Iraqi provinces, excluding the Kurdistan Region. However, disputes among political parties within the province have caused a significant delay in the inaugural session of Kirkuk’s provincial council.
In the recent provincial elections, no political party or alliance won a majority of the province’s 16 seats. Kurds secured 7 seats (PUK with five and KDP with two seats), Arabs won 5 seats, and Turkmen obtained 2 seats. This complex distribution of power made the election of a new governor and the formation of a government challenging. To break the deadlock, Prime Minister al-Sudani directly led three dialogue sessions with the winning parties and blocs from February to May, aiming to find consensus on selecting a new governor and distributing senior positions.
On Tuesday, Sudani called on the members of the Kirkuk Provincial Council to hold the first session, urging political forces to cooperate to implement the agreements reached in the last dialogue session. This move aims to pave the way for future steps in the province’s governance.
Hassan Majeed, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) faction, confirmed in an interview with Zoom News that the Kirkuk Provincial Council would hold its first session on Thursday. The goal is to elect a new governor for Kirkuk within a month and reach an agreement on administrative posts.
However, Majeed noted that no recent progress has been made between the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on selecting a new Kurdish nominee for the governor position. The recent distribution of senior posts in Nineveh province, which saw the KDP lose three positions to the PUK, has exacerbated their longstanding contention.
“The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has yet to endorse the PUK’s nominee for the Kirkuk governor position,” Majeed added.
Amid preparations for its first session, the Acting Governor of Kirkuk, Rakan al-Jabouri, was sworn in as a member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council to lead the scheduled session as the oldest member, as requested by al-Sudani. All winning blocs are expected to participate in the session.
From 2003 to 2017, the Kurds held the governorship of Kirkuk. The position then passed to Rakan al-Jabouri, an Arab, who has served as acting governor for the past six years following the October events in 2017 and the retreat of the Kurdistan Peshmerga forces in the oil-rich and multi-ethnic province of Kirkuk.
