At a Glance

• The Kirkuk Provincial Council will meet Wednesday to elect a new governor.

• The post is set to go to the Iraqi Turkmen Front.

• The session follows a meeting in Baghdad between Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen representatives.

Information obtained by Channel8 shows that the Kirkuk Provincial Council will convene tomorrow to elect a new governor, with Kahtan Vendavi of the Iraqi Turkmen Front set to take the post.

Key Statements and Focus Area

• On the Candidate: Kahtan Vendavi, head of the Kirkuk branch of the Turkmen Front, is the candidate to assume the governorship. — Information obtained by Channel8.

• On the Rotation: A member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council representing the Arab component told Channel8 that the Arab component will take over the governorship from the Turkmen at the end of the year.

• Focus Area: The election of Kirkuk's new governor and the power-sharing arrangement among the Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen components.

The session is scheduled for 4:00 PM and has two items on its agenda: the resignation of Governor Mohammed Samaan Agha and the election of his successor.

The arrangement was reached at a meeting in Baghdad among representatives of the three components.

Until yesterday, several scenarios were under consideration, including a proposal that the Turkmen component take the post of second deputy governor, currently held by the Arab component, while serving as acting governor.

Under that plan, the governorship itself would have been allocated to the Arab component without a presidential decree until year's end. The Turkmen component rejected it.

Under the political agreement, the Turkmen component will hold the governorship until the end of the year, after which the Arab component takes over.

That handover is expected to trigger further adjustments, with the Kurds reclaiming key posts, including Chairman of the Kirkuk Provincial Council and Kirkuk Police Commander.

The Arab component has already reclaimed the Planning Department in the Kirkuk Governorate Diwan, along with several other positions.

FYI

Kirkuk is an ethnically mixed governorate where Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen share administrative posts through rotation agreements rather than a single-majority arrangement.

The Kurds acquired about 15 administrative posts in April of this year under a post-rotation agreement with the Turkmen, and the coming changes continue that pattern of power-sharing among the three components.

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