Kirkuk governor declines parliamentary seat ahead of new parliamentary term

KIRKUK — Kirkuk Gov. Rebwar Taha, who won a seat in Iraq’s parliament in the Nov. 11 elections with the highest vote total nationwide, said Sunday he will not take up the seat and has formally notified the election commission to seat a replacement instead.

Taha received about 96,000 votes in Kirkuk, the largest number won by any single candidate in the election. In a statement posted on his official Facebook page, he said he had submitted a request to Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission declining to assume the parliamentary mandate.

He said Halo Qader, the next eligible candidate on the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan list, will replace him and is expected to take the constitutional oath during parliament’s first session.

Taha was elected to parliament on the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan slate but has repeatedly said since the election that he intended to remain in his current post as governor rather than move to Baghdad. After the vote, he described his party’s performance in Kirkuk as “a great success” and said he would continue working in the governorate.

Taha became governor of Kirkuk on Aug. 13, 2024.

The announcement comes ahead of the first session of Iraq’s newly elected Council of Representatives, scheduled for today. During the session, lawmakers are set to take the constitutional oath and elect a speaker and two deputy speakers, formally launching the sixth parliamentary term.

It is a common practice in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region for senior officials and high-profile politicians to run in parliamentary elections to bolster party lists or demonstrate popular support, then decline to take up their seats. Under Iraqi electoral procedures, candidates who decline to assume their seats before the first session are replaced by the next eligible candidate on the same list.