Shafaq News- Kirkuk
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Monday rejected the local government formed in Kirkuk following a meeting in Baghdad's Al-Rasheed Hotel, describing the process as unconstitutional and lacking legal legitimacy.
Mohammed Kamal, head of the KDP's third branch in Kirkuk, told Shafaq News that the party had opposed the meeting from the outset “because it was not based on a legal or constitutional foundation,” adding that KDP members were not notified to attend the session.
“Any decision regarding participation in or boycott of council sessions rests with the party's leadership.”
Regarding the power-sharing arrangement for the governor's post, Kamal said the Turkmen community is a fundamental component of Kirkuk and that it is natural for one of its members to serve as governor, stressing that the KDP's objection is not related to the ethnic group holding the position, but rather to the mechanism through which the local government was formed during the Rashid Hotel meeting.
On April 16, 2026, the Kirkuk Provincial Council approved the appointment of the province's first Turkmen governor as part of a political agreement based on rotating the governorship among Kirkuk's communities, in line with the outcomes of the Rashid Hotel agreement.
Meanwhile, Kirkuk Provincial Council Chairman Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hafidh stated that the position of governor is scheduled to pass to the Arab component by the end of this year under the terms of the political agreement reached by the parties participating in the province's administration.
"The transfer of the governorship to the Arab component at the end of this year is fully agreed upon within the political accord," al-Hafidh told Shafaq News, describing the arrangement as a settled matter among the parties involved.