epresentative at the council's helm was an assistant mayor whom they considered pro-Kurdish. Abdul Rahman Mustafa, a Baghdad-educated lawyer was elected mayor by 20 votes to 10. The appointment of an Arab, Ismail Ahmed Rajab Al Hadidi, as deputy mayor went some way towards addressing Arab concerns.
On June 30, 2005, through a secret direct voting process, with the participation of the widest communities in the province and despite all the political legal security complexities of this process in the country generally and in Kirkuk in particular, Kirkuk witnessed the birth of its first elected Provincial Council. The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq IECI approved and announced the outcomes of this process, which filled the 41 seats of Kirkuk Provincial Council as follows:
� 26 seats 367 List Kirkuk Brotherhood List KBL
� 8 seats 175 List Iraqi Turkmen Front ITF
� 5 seats 299 List Iraqi Republic Gathering
� 1 seats 178 List Turkmen Islamic Coalition
� 1 seats 289 List Iraqi National Gathering
The new Kirkuk Provincial Council started its second turn on March 6, 2005. Its inaugural session was dedicated to the introduction of its new members, followed by an oath ceremony supervised by Judge Thahir Hamza Salman, the Head of Kirkuk Appellate Court.
Five churches in Kirkuk were targeted with bombs in August 2011
