Nechirvan Barzani elected Kurdistan Region president
Eighty-one MPs were present in the Region’s 111-seat parliament to cast their vote in Tuesday’s session. Nechirvan, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) candidate, secured 68 votes.
His four rivals secured zero votes.
Nechirvan, nephew of former president Masoud Barzani, will step down as prime minister to assume the role.
In mid-June, the president-elect is expected to ask his cousin, Masrour Barzani, to form the new cabinet.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which holds 21 seats in the legislature against the KDP's 45, issued a statement ahead of the session saying the KDP has not adhered to their prior agreements. They would therefore not participate in the vote.
“We haven’t seen the smallest step from our KDP brothers. We haven’t seen even good intent towards one section of both our agreements from our KDP brothers,” PUK spokesperson Latif Shiekh Omer told reporters in Sulaimani ahead of the vote on Tuesday.
“Unilateralism in Kurdistan will not succeed, and it shouldn’t succeed, and it should be prevented,” Omer added.
Kirkuk and the KDP’s failure to agree to the appointment of a PUK governor to the disputed province remains a key stumbling block.
This didn’t stop the PUK’s Qubad Talabani, the Region’s deputy prime minister, congratulating Nechirvan on his election.
“I am proud to have worked alongside him for five difficult years. I am confident that his competence and vision will guarantee success in this challenging responsibility, part of which would include putting the Kurdish house in order,” he tweeted.
New Generation, meanwhile, boycotted the whole process, arguing the presidency law does not serve democracy or the parliamentary system.
Omed Khoshnaw, head of the KDP parliamentary bloc, told a press conference immediately following the vote that the PUK boycott would have “negative consequences”.
“The process will not stop. We elected the president and we will form the government,” he said.
Who is Nechirvan Idris Mustafa Barzani?
- Born on September 21, 1996 in Haji Omaran
- Displaced to Iran along with his family in 1975
- Student of political science at Tehran University
- Elected member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) politburo in 1989
- Elected deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in 1996
- Elected prime minister of the KRG’s fourth cabinet in 1999
- Elected prime minister of the KRG in 2006 (unified cabinet)
- Elected prime minister of the KRG from 2011 to 2013
- Elected prime minister of the KRG from 2013 to 2018
- Elected deputy president of the KDP during the party’s 13th congress
- Nominated by KDP for the presidency on December 3, 2018
- Married father of five
Rudaw
