Shafaq News- Kirkuk

Kirkuk's provincial council voted Thursday to install Mohammed Samaan as the city's first Turkmen governor, implementing a two-year-old power-sharing deal.

The Turkmen Iraqi Front's Ahmed Ramzi confirmed quorum was met and the council proceeded with the vote, saying the move aimed to end administrative deadlock and ensure stable, representative governance reflecting Kirkuk's diverse communities.

A source told Shafaq News that Samaan was set to take the governorship while outgoing Governor Rebwar Taha would assume the post of first deputy governor and deputy council speaker as part of the broader rotation framework.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) declared the session illegitimate. Parliamentary bloc leader Shakhwan Abdullah called the vote "an illegal process conducted outside the will of Kirkuk's people," saying his party would not bow to "suspicious Al-Rasheed Hotel deals."

KDP spokesman Mahmoud Mohammed said the party supported the rights of all communities but could not accept arrangements imposed on the city "in bad faith and without the participation of parties that represent Kirkuk's steadfast people," adding that the KDP would only back decisions made with the participation of all political parties and community representatives.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) confirmed its participation in the session. Spokesman Karwan Gaznei said the rotation was the result of a prior two-year-old agreement and represented "a normal democratic process," stressing that "no position is a political inheritance." He clarified the Kirkuk governorship change had no connection to the presidential post, describing it purely as the implementation of a pre-existing political understanding.

The crisis traces back to August 2024, when more than half the council elected Taha as governor at a session held at Baghdad's Al-Rasheed Hotel -boycotted by the KDP, Turkmens, and several Arab members- leaving the administration disputed from day one.