ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front Mehmet Seman on Thursday was elected Kirkuk’s new governor after Rebwar Taha of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) stepped down as part of a deal with Arab parties.

Seman received 12 votes of the 14 members of the council present for a Thursday session that was postponed.

In a subsequent press conference, the new governor said, "I stand before you all not as a representative to any party but a servant to all the components," vowing to tackle electricity problems in the province.

Mohammed al-Halbousi of the Taqadum Party, with whom the PUK reached a power-sharing agreement for the Kirkuk Provincial Concil in 2024, congratulated Seman, wishing him "success, prosperity, and guidance in his duties."

The agreement says the PUK and Halbousi-aligned representatives agree to two-year terms of governorship, with the latter having ceded one year to the Turkmen Front.

In return, the PUK are expected to receive a number of posts in the province, which has a diverse ethnic mix of Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, including the position of Kirkuk Police chief.

Rebwar Taha has been appointed as deputy governor, while the PUK's Nasheet Shahwez has received the speakership of the Kirkuk Provincial Council, The New Region has learned.

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.

“This is a deal that was made over two years ago, and we are an honest political party,” PUK spokesperson Karwan Gaznayi said during a presser on Thursday.

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.

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader President Masoud Barzani, during a meeting with the Russian Consul General to Erbil Maxim Rubin on Thursday, said his party does not condone "playing with the will of Kirkuk’s voters."

"The KDP is in no way amenable to playing with the will of Kirkuk's voters and the fate of its people," President Barzani said, with his party having boycotted the Thursday session of the provincial council.

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.