Turkmen Front names two candidates for Kirkuk governor
Shafaq News- Kirkuk
The Iraqi Turkmen Front has two candidates for governor of Kirkuk, Qahtan al-Wandawi and Mardin Gokkaya, a Turkmen Front member of the provincial council said on Monday, adding that no date has yet been set for the council session to elect a new governor.
Council members have not been formally notified of when the session will be held to elect a new governor, Sawsan Abdul Wahid Jaddoua told reporters, adding that the Turkmen Front is sticking with its candidates while the political and legal steps for choosing Kirkuk's new governor are completed.
Kirkuk, an oil-rich and ethnically mixed province of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen, remains one of Iraq's most politically disputed territories, with its status contested between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region.
Last October, Kirkuk Governor fisrt deputy Rebwar Taha said that the province was experiencing an administrative vacuum following Mohammed Samaan Agha, of the Turkmen Front, being appointed as a minister of state. Taha also said the Front was seeking to retain the governorship by nominating a replacement.
