The President of Kurdistan Region is the head of semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. They are part of the Kurdistan Presidency Council.[1] The current President of Kurdistan Region is Nechirvan Barzani, who assumed office on 10 June 2019.[2]

President of Kurdistan Region
Seal of the President
Flag of the President
since 10 June 2019
StyleHis Excellency
Appointerelected in KRG parliament (if possible)
Term lengthFour years, renewable once
Inaugural holderJalal Talabani (de facto)
Masoud Barzani (de jure)
Formation4 July 1992 (de facto)
14 June 2005 (de jure)
DeputyVice President of Kurdistan Region
Websitepresidency.gov.krd/en/

List of presidents

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1992–2005

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After the 1992 parliamentary election resulted in the two main parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), each holding 50 out of 100 seats, they decided to create a unity government (which was not recognized by the Ba'athist Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein).[3]

 
Kurdistan Region after the 1998 cease-fire. Green area controlled by the PUK, Yellow area controlled by the KDP

The unity government soon collapsed and in 1994 a civil war broke out, which lasted until 1998. This resulted in the establishment of two Kurdistan Regional Governments in 1996, a KDP-controlled one in Erbil and a PUK-controlled one in Sulaymaniyah, each with their own President.[3]

PUK-controlled part

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President of the PUK-run Kurdistan Regional Government:[4]

No. Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)
Term of office Political party
Took office Left office Time in office
1   Jalal Talabani
(1933–2017)
4 July 1992 6 April 2005 12 years, 276 days Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

KDP-controlled part

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President of the KDP-run Kurdistan Regional Government:[4]

No. Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)
Term of office Political party
Took office Left office Time in office
1   Masoud Barzani
(born 1946)
19

May 1992

14 June 2005 13 years,

26 days

Kurdistan Democratic Party

2005–present

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After an official reconciliation between the KDP and PUK in October 2002,[5] parliamentary elections were held on 30 January 2005 and on 14 June 2005 the KDP-leader Masoud Barzani was sworn in by the parliament in as new president and Kosrat Rasul Ali as the new Vice President of Kurdistan Region.[6] In 2009 the system was changed to elect the president and on 25 July 2009 presidential elections were held resulting in Barzani's re-election.[7] On 29 October 2017, amidst the 2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, Barzani announced his intentions to step down as president, effective 1 November.[8]

President of Kurdistan Region:

No. Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)
Term of office Political party
Took office Left office Time in office
1   Masoud Barzani
(born 1946)
14 June 2005 1 November 2017 12 years, 140 days Kurdistan Democratic Party
2   Nechirvan Barzani
(born 1966)
10 June 2019 Incumbent 5 years, 166 days Kurdistan Democratic Party

Timeline

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Nechirvan BarzaniJalal TalabaniMasoud Barzani

Election results

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Candidate Popular votes Percentage
Massoud Barzani 1,266,397 69.6
Kamal Mirawdily 460,323 25.3
Halow Ibrahim Ahmed 63,377 3.5
Ahmed Mohammed Rasul 18,890 1.4
Hussein Garmiyani 10,665 0.6
Total 1,819,652 [1] 100%

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "KRG". Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
  2. ^ "Nechirvan Barzani takes presidency of Iraq's Kurdish region, vacant since 2017". Reuters. 10 June 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2020 – via www.reuters.com.
  3. ^ a b Galbraith, Peter (2006), The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War without End; Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-9423-8
  4. ^ a b "Countries I".
  5. ^ "The evolution of the modern electoral process in the Kurdistan Region". Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
  6. ^ Kurdistan Region leader sworn in
  7. ^ Opposition set to break Iraqi Kurd stranglehold
  8. ^ "Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani to step down". BBC. 29 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.