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President of Iraqi Kurdistan

President of Iraqi Kurdistan
Seal of the President of the Kurdistan Region.svg
Seal of the President of the Kurdistan Region
Flag of the President of the Kurdistan Region.svg
Flag of the President of the Kurdistan Region
Mesud Barzani.jpg
Incumbent
Masoud Barzani

since June 14, 2005
Style His Excellency
Appointer Directly elected
Term length Four years, renewable once
Inaugural holder Jalal Talabani (de facto)
Masoud Barzani (de jure)
Formation 4 July 1992 (de facto)
14 June 2005 (de jure)
Website www.krp.org

The President of Iraqi Kurdistan heads the Kurdistan Autonomous Region in northern Iraq. He is part of the Kurdistan Presidency Council.

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).

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.

President of the PUK-run Kurdistan Regional Government:

President of the KDP-run Kurdistan Regional Government:

After an official reconciliation between the KDP and PUK in October 2002,parliamentary elections were held on January 30, 2005 and on June 14, 2005 the KDP-leader Masoud Barzani was sworn by the parliament in as new president. 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.

President of Kurdistan Regional Government:


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