Iraqi Kurdistan elects Nechirvan Barzani as new president

Nechirvan Barzani, the nephew of former president Masoud Barzani, was elected by 68 Kurdish MPs amid a boycott by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Former prime minister Nechirvan Barzani will follow his uncle Masoud Barzani in office. The elder Barzani, who was the only person to ever hold the office of president, resigned in November 2017 after a failed bid for independence from Iraq. The presidency has been vacant since.

Nechirvan won 68 votes from the 81 members present in the 111-seat Kurdish parliament. He was born in northern Iraq in 1966 but spent part of his life in Iran and speaks fluent Kurdish, Farsi and English.

His four rivals for the office received no votes

The Barzani family and their Kurdistan Democratic Party have dominated Iraqi Kurdish politics for generations. The opposition Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which was formerly led by late Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, stayed away from Tuesday's vote after coalition talks between the two parties broke down.

The Kurdish region has enjoyed a large degree of autonomy within Iraq since the Gulf War of 1991. Its forces, known as the peshmerga, have played a key role in the defeat of the Islamic State group in the country.