ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Kirkuk’s Provincial Council on Saturday elected Qahtan al-Wandawi, head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front’s Kirkuk branch, as governor, replacing Mehmet Seman, whose resignation was accepted by the council.

Wandawi secured 14 votes in a secret ballot, with one council member absent, Hassan Majid, a council member representing the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), told The New Region. 

The council first accepted the resignation of Seman, who was appointed a minister of state in the Iraqi federal government in October, before opening nominations and voting on his successor.

Born in 1975, Wandawi heads the Turkmen Front’s Kirkuk branch. He holds a master’s degree in international trade and is pursuing a doctorate in economics.

The vote followed the postponement of an earlier session scheduled for November 11 due to political disagreements over the governorship.

The Turkmen Front is set to hold on to the Kirkuk governorship until the end of the year before transferring the top post to the Arabs, per a power-sharing agreement.

The Front held the Kirkuk governor position in April with the appointment of Seman, which came after the PUK’s Rebwar Taha, a Kurd, stepped down from his position under 2024’s power-sharing deal made with Arab parties.

In August 2024, several Kirkuk political figures held a closed-door meeting at Baghdad’s al-Rashid Hotel to establish a power-sharing agreement within the provincial council.

The PUK reached a power-sharing agreement with Mohammed al-Halbousi of the Taqadum Party, under which the PUK and Halbousi-aligned representatives agreed to two-year governorship terms, with the latter ceding one year to the Turkmen Front.