The Nineveh Provincial Council began the process of examining the applications of 13 candidates competing for the position of mayor of Shingal district.
Nominations for the position were admitted at the beginning of last April and deadline was the middle of the same month, but due to absence of consensus and the lack of candidates, the candidacy was extended until May 15th.
Muhammad Abdullah al-Jubouri, Deputy Chairman of the Nineveh Provincial Council, told KirkukNow that the deadline for receiving applications to run for the position of mayor of Shingal has passed, and a committee is scheduled to check the names and applications of the candidates.
13 people ran for the position,” according to Al-Jubouri, who explained that the head of the provincial council will set a date for holding a voting session on the candidates after the end of the vetting process.
Under the Iraqi Provincial Law, due to the absence of district councils, the powers to identify and elect candidates for the positions of mayor and sub-district directors devolve on the Provincial Council. The Nineveh Provincial Council formed a committee to form the Shingal local administration chaired by the mayor.
The position of mayor of Shingal was previously in the hands of the Kurdish parties, which in the current session of the Nineveh Provincial Council hold six seats, out of 29 seats, (four for the Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP and two for the Patriotic Union of KurdistanPUK, decades rivals whom form the Erbil-based Kurdistan Regional Government KRG), the other seats - except for the three quota seat allocated to each of the Ezidis, Shabak, and Christians - distributed among the Sunni and Shiite Arab blocs.
There have been two administrations in Shingal for seven years, one operating from Dohuk Northern Province and the other within the district. In addition to these two administrations, the Democratic Autonomous-Administration Council in Shingal, formed by parties close to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK, has power in the district as a project to administer Shingal following the ousting of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISIS.
The Deputy Chairman of the Provincial Council says, “Deciding on the position of mayor of Shingal is very necessary for the return of the displaced and the provision of services to the region, but choosing a person for this position must be in agreement between the political blocs participating in the Provincial Council.”
Following the sectarian violence, the emergence of ISIS and the war against it, resulted in lack of stability, security and reconstruction in the war ravaged-province of Ninewa, particularly in Shingal where several armed groups are deployed beside the Iraqi Security Forces ISF.
Ahead of the provincial council elections, specifically in 2020, the Shingal Agreement was concluded between the federal government and the KRG to reorganize the administrative, security, and service sectors yet its provisions have not yet been completely implemented.
Shingal District (120 km west of Mosul) is a disputed area between the Iraqi federal government and the KRG within Nineveh Province. It is home to about 334,000 people, over 91,000 of whom live in the center of the district, the majority of whom are Ezidis. IS militants took control of Shingal on August 3, 2014, and it was recaptured it on November 13, 2015. Thousands of Yazidis were kidnapped, enslaved, killed, displaced and the city was destroyed.
