The prime minister of the Kurdistan Region is the head of government of the Kurdistan Region, governing semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. The government is elected as part of the Kurdistan Region Parliament.
List of prime ministers
1992–2005 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).Galbraith, Peter (2006), The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War without End; Simon and Schuster.
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 prime minister.
PUK-controlled part Prime Ministers of the PUK-controlled Kurdistan Regional Government: Portrait Name Term of office Political party Took office Left office Time in office 1 Fuad Masum 4 July 1992 26 April 1993 Patriotic Union of Kurdistan 2 Kosrat Rasul Ali 26 April 1993 21 January 2001 Patriotic Union of Kurdistan 3 Barham Salih 21 January 2001 15 July 2004 Patriotic Union of Kurdistan 4 Omer Fattah Hussain 15 July 2004 14 June 2005 Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
KDP-controlled part Prime Ministers of the KDP-controlled Kurdistan Regional Government: Portrait Name Term of office Political party Took office Left office Time in office 1 Roj Shaweis 26 September 1996 20 December 1999 Kurdistan Democratic Party 2 Nechirvan Barzani 20 December 1999 14 June 2005 Kurdistan Democratic Party
2006–present After the reconciliation between the KDP and PUK, parliamentary election was held on January 30, 2005, and an agreement was made to let a KDP leader become the Prime Minister for the first term and a PUK leader to become the Prime Minister for the second term, so Nechervan Barzani became prime minister. Barham Salih held the post of prime minister until 17 January 2012 after which he relinquished his position to Nechervan Idris Barzani.
Prime Ministers of the Kurdistan Regional Government: Portrait Name Term of office Political party Took office Left office Time in office 1 Nechirvan Barzani 1 March 2006 31 August 2009 Kurdistan Democratic Party 2 Barham Salih 1 September 2009 17 January 2012 Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (1) Nechirvan Barzani 17 January 2012 10 June 2019 Kurdistan Democratic Party 3 Masrour Barzani 10 June 2019 Incumbent (Term Expired in October 2024) Kurdistan Democratic Party
Timeline
See also President of Kurdistan Region Vice President of Kurdistan Region
References