Kirkuk governor set to change for second time in seven months
Kirkuk's Provincial Council meets in an emergency session tomorrow to fill the governor's seat left vacant after Mohammed Seman Agha moved to a cabinet post in Iraq's government. It will be the second change of governor in Kirkuk in seven months.
RastinewsThe Kirkuk Provincial Council presidency has called an emergency session for tomorrow to elect a new governor. Under the power-sharing deal governing the province, the new governor will again come from the Turkmen component.
The seat opened up after Mohammed Seman Agha, head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC), was named a minister of state in the Iraqi parliament. Seman Agha became the first ITC figure to hold a ministerial post.
The ITC is expected to submit three candidates to the Provincial Council, with the new governor to be chosen from among them.
Governorship passed from Kurds to Turkmens
Seman Agha was elected Kirkuk governor on April 16, winning 12 of 14 votes in the Provincial Council session held that day. The same session accepted the resignation of Rebwar Taha of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), who was later appointed deputy governor.
The handover of the governorship to the Turkmen component followed an agreement PUK leader Bafel Talabani reached with Arab and Turkmen parties. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) boycotted that session and said it did not recognize the handover.
In his first remarks after resigning, Taha said he had not stepped down of his own will.
Arabs next in line
According to Rudaw, the power-sharing agreement calls for the governorship to pass to the Sunni Arab component after the Turkmen term. For that reason, the governor elected tomorrow is expected to serve only a short term.
Of the 16 seats on the Kirkuk Provincial Council, Arabs hold 6, the PUK 5, the KDP 2, Turkmens 2 and Christians 1.