Sudani “chaired the third meeting of the political forces representing the national components of Kirkuk Province, which are part of the Kirkuk Administration Coalition,,” according to a statement from his office.
“During the meeting, the principles of the political agreement paper were approved, with some observations studied and reviewed. They agreed to hold a session of the Provincial Council within an agreed-upon timeframe to commence the constitutional procedures for forming the local government and approving the contents of the political agreement paper,” the statement added without specifying the time frame to hold the session.
Kirkuk saw the highest turnout across Iraq for provincial elections on December 18, with 65 percent of eligible voters casting ballots. This was the first time since 2005 that Kirkuk held provincial elections.
Five months after the election, the province remains without a governor due to political disputes between the Kurdish, Arab, and Turkmen components, as each claims entitlement to the governor’s position.
Wednesday’s meeting was the third between the components to resolve the issue.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), as the main winner of the December poll, believes that they have the right to claim the position of the governor, Stran Abdullah, a politburo member of the PUK, told Rudaw days after the vote.
Days later, Azzam al-Hamdani, spokesperson of the al-Uruba alliance, told Rudaw that the Arabs were determined to retain the position of the governor in the multiethnic city.
The Turkmen, however, believe that the post should be rotated between the city’s components.
Kurdish parties won seven seats - five to the PUK and two to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). A coalition of three Arab parties won six seats. The minority Christian quota seat was taken by a candidate close to pro-Iran Shiite militia groups and the PUK.
Since the fall of the Ba’athist regime in 2003, Kurds and Arabs have dominated the top post. The governor was a Kurd until October 2017 when the federal forces returned to the province after the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum and appointed a Sunni as acting governor.
