The two members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the Kirkuk provincial council are waiting for the Administrative Court to resolve complaints regarding the formation of the Kirkuk local government before returning to council meetings.
Hassan Shekhani, the leader of the (KDP) faction in the Kirkuk provincial council, stated that they will not attend council meetings until the Administrative Court addresses the complaints filed by the Iraqi Turkmen Front ITF and Rakan Saeed al-Jibouri, the former governor of Kirkuk, regarding the formation of the local government on August 10, 2024.
"We, as the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), have been actively participating in the Kirkuk provincial council, but we are awaiting the outcome of the complaints lodged against the provincial administration in the administrative court before resuming our participation in council meetings," Shekhani told KirkukNow.
"After the court's decision, our political leadership will make a decision on our participation in future meetings," he added.
The Administrative Court was expected to rule on the complaints against the formation of the Kirkuk local government on Tuesday December 24th but has been postponed.
Hassan Turan, ITF's complaint was filed with Sawsan Jadoua, member of Kirkuk Provincial Council, against nine members of the council representing various blocs, including Rebwar Taha, governor of Kirkuk and Muhammad Al-Hafez, provincial council speaker. Al-Jibouri filed his complaint alone against the head of the provincial council.
The complaints focus on the cancellation of the provincial council session that took place on August 10 at the Rashid Hotel in Baghdad. This session resulted in the election of council officials, the governor and one deputy, despite the absence of seven council members who boycotted the meeting.
The opposition front in the council, consisting of the Arab coalition, the ITF, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP bloc, deemed the Rashid Hotel session illegal.
Despite previous requests to halt the proceedings of the Kirkuk Provincial Council session in Baghdad being rejected by the Federal Court on August 20, the complaints will now be reviewed in November.
The northern, oil-rich, ethnically mixed province of Kirkuk is home to about 1,77 million Kurds, Turkmen, and Arabs. Located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, Kirkuk is an ethnically mixed province and has long been at the center of disputes between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG.
