Kurdish Parliament Speaker Yousif Mohammed welcomed council’s decision and commended the body in a statement released after the vote. “Today for the first time in Sulaimani power has been exchanged peacefully,” reads the statement. “We hope this will become a common occurrence and in the future will lead to further exercise of democratic principles in Kurdistan.”
But some council members consider Abubakir’s election as problematic, saying he will not hold any power as governor until the presidency approves his election. “Haval Abubakir is accepted as Sulaimani provincial council governor. But he cannot act as governor until he gets the Kurdistan presidency’s official approval, and an order from the council of ministers and related ministries to confirm him as the new governor,” Dana Jaza, a Sulaimani council member from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) bloc, told Rudaw.
Ismael Namiq, a member of Gorran’s legal committee, disagreed that the presidency’s approval is necessary. “The Sulaimani governor’s legitimacy comes from the council members not from the presidency’s approval,” he said. “The approval is only to commission him to start working as governor.”
Abubakir’s appointment, however, may be disputed as the day before the vote former governor Aso Faraidoon issued an order designating a deputy governor as acting governor.
“According to our administrative authorities,” reads Faraidoon’s order, “I’ve decided to designate Sardar Qadir Ali, deputy governor for technical affairs, to become acting governor in addition to his duties as deputy governor of Sulaimani province.”
Under Kurdistan Region law, the Kurdistan Presidency must issue its official approval of the governor within 15 days of the election.
Abubakir previously won the post of governor in the 2013 provincial elections by 241,000 votes but was denied the seat by the more powerful PUK and was instead made head of the provincial council after weeks of negotiations between Gorran and the PUK. But they failed to agree on a mechanism for the election of a new governor at the end of his term.
Gorran and the PUK have sought to mend relations in recent months. They signed an alliance on May 17 that brought both parties closer in national and regional politics, leading many to speculate that the two might merge into one party as they were before 2009.
