Kirkuk governorship returns to Turkmen Front with PUK, KDP backing

Rastinews — Kirkuk's provincial council convened in an extraordinary session on Saturday. Lawmakers first accepted the resignation of Mohammed Seman Agha, then set candidates for the new governor.

Fifteen of the council's 16 members attended. Kahtan Vendavi won 14 votes. Officials did not disclose who cast the dissenting or abstaining vote.

PUK and KDP both part of the deal

Both Kurdish parties confirmed the deal before the vote. PUK council member Perwin Fetih said on Friday, "An agreement has been reached on appointing Kahtan Vendavi of the Turkmen Front as governor." KDP member Hasan Majid Ali also confirmed the arrangement. Majid Ali later announced the vote's results.

The picture looked different in 2024. Back then, the KDP and the Turkmen Front boycotted a meeting at Baghdad's Rasheed Hotel, with both parties branding the election held there illegal.

The PUK holds five seats on the council and the KDP two. Arabs hold six seats and Turkmens two, while Christians are represented through one quota seat.

Governorship set to pass to Arabs in January

The Kirkuk governorship rotates under a power-sharing deal the PUK signed with two Arab parties in 2024. The Turkmen Front joined the arrangement later, after the Arab parties gave up eight months of their own term to the Turkmens.

Under the deal, the final year belongs to the Arab side. The governorship is expected to pass to an Arab candidate in January. If the timetable holds, Vendavi's term will last roughly two months.

The Arab bloc has already begun preparing its candidate. Provincial council speaker Ibrahim Hafiz said three names are on the negotiating table, adding that Taqaddum Party MP Muhaymin Hamdani is the frontrunner.

Seman Agha had held two posts at once

Seman Agha joined Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi's cabinet as minister of state for minority affairs in October. Iraqi law bars a public official from holding two state posts at the same time.

Seman Agha nonetheless held on to the governorship. In a statement at the end of October, he said he would not resign until the council elected a Turkmen successor. The vote was delayed because Turkmen parties could not agree on a joint candidate.

The Iraqi prime minister's office issued a statement last week saying Zaidi had ordered that Kirkuk's leadership vacuum be resolved quickly, within the framework of agreements between the province's communities.

Aligned with Kurds on land-restitution law

Vendavi held a press conference at the governorate building after his election, saying he would serve all of Kirkuk's communities.

The new governor is also known for siding with Kurds on one particular issue. Iraq's Federal Supreme Court suspended a land-restitution law in February 2025 that would have returned property seized under the Baath regime to its Kurdish and Turkmen owners. Vendavi told Rudaw at the time that the ruling would deepen divisions in Kirkuk.

Governorship has been contested since 2017

The PUK held the Kirkuk governorship from 2005 to 2017. Iraqi army forces and the Hashd al-Shaabi entered the city on October 16, 2017, following the Kurdistan Region's independence referendum. Kurdish governor Najmaldin Karim was removed and replaced by Rakan Jubouri.

Kurds emerged as the largest bloc in the December 2023 local elections. The PUK's Rebwar Taha was elected governor at the Rasheed Hotel meeting in August 2024. Taha resigned on April 16, 2026, and Seman Agha was elected governor in the same session, with Taha moved into the deputy governor's post.

KDP leader Masoud Barzani called the Rasheed Hotel agreements "suspicious" at the time, saying they disregarded the will of voters.

According to Rudaw and Shafaq News, the council's Kurdish members took part in this vote and were party to the agreement.