ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A meeting of the Kirkuk Provincial Council that is set to replace Governor Rebwar Taha of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) with the leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front has been delayed to a later time on Thursday, the council said. 

Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hafidh, chairman of the council, announced that “the session has been postponed to 6:00 pm due to a lack of quorum.”

Protests erupted outside the Kirkuk Provincial Council on Thursday, with the multiethnic city’s Kurds expressing their dissatisfaction with the replacement of Governor Taha. 

The New Region has learned that the Kirkuk governorship will go to Mohammad Samaan, leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front. 

The five PUK members of the council did not attend the Thursday meeting and are instead at the party’s headquarters in Sulaimani, according to The New Region’s correspondent. 

On Wednesday night, Kurds in Kirkuk gathered before the house of Taha, calling on him to remain as governor and opposing the transfer of the position to the Turkmen Front. 

Kurds in the disputed city of Kirkuk gathered before the house of Governor Rebwar Taha of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), calling on him to remain in his post and not transfer the governorship to the Turkmen Front pic.twitter.com/L4qDTOSPYo

— The New Region (@thenewregion) April 16, 2026

Taha was elected governor in an August 2024 meeting in Baghdad that was attended by five PUK council members, three Arabs, and a Christian quota representative. The decision came months after the country held provincial council elections. 

The appointment of PUK's Taha meant the return of the position to Kurds for the first time since 2017.

In the November elections, Taha was heading the PUK list in Kirkuk and received 96,000 votes, more votes than any candidate in Iraq, including Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, whose alliance came in first place in the country.

Kirkuk falls under Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which mandates a process to outline a clear and definitive boundary in the disputed areas by introducing a referendum to determine the will of the residents living on the lands. The implementation of the article has been continuously delayed by the successive Iraqi federal governments.

On October 16, 2017, the Kurds lost control over Kirkuk and other disputed territories after a military offensive by the Iraqi government was conducted in the province, bringing it under the rule of Baghdad. The Kurdish authorities have continuously pledged the eventual return of the lost territory.