Ninawa governorate election, 2009

Ninawa Governorate election, 2009

← 2005 31 January 2009 (2009-01-31) 2013 →
All 37 seats for the Ninawa Governorate council
Turnout	60% (43%)
First party Second party   Leader Atheel al-Nujaifi Barham Salih Party Al-Hadba Kurdistani List Last election 0 31 Seats before 0 31 Seats won 19 12 Seat change 19 19 Popular vote 435,595 273,458 Percentage 43.8% 27.5% Swing 43.8% 38.4%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Tariq al-Hashimi Fahmi Yousif Party Iraqi Islamic Party Ishtar Patriotic List Last election 2 0 Seats before 2 0 Seats won 3 1 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 60,191 13,760 Percentage 6% 1.4% Swing 1.74% 1.4%
Governor of Ninawa before election Duraid Kashmoula Independent Subsequent Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi Al-Hadba

Duraid Kashmoula
Independent

Atheel al-Nujaifi
Al-Hadba

The Nineveh Governorate election of 2009 was held on 31 January 2009 alongside elections for all other governorates outside Iraqi Kurdistan and Kirkuk.

Three seats on the council have been reserved for religious minorities: one for Christians, one for Yazidis and one for Shabak.

In May 2008, arrest warrants were issued against a number of KDP council members who were accused of involvement in an assassination ring headed by the deputy leader of the KDP. The ring allegedly assassinated 900 people including a prominent Imam, two former senior officials of the Baath party, doctors and university professors. They were also accused of funnelled money and logistical help to al Qaeda in Iraq, in order to persuade the predominantly Arab residents to turn over security to the Kurdish Peshmerga.

The main contest in Ninawa was between the incumbent Kurdish-backed governor and the al-Hadba party, formed by Sunni Arab tribal groups and backed by the Shiite Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki. During the campaign the pro-Kurdish governor, Duraid Kashmoula, said he intended to leave Mosul, the city of his birth, after the election and retire to Kurdistan.

al-Hadba complained of being targeted by Kurdish security forces. They accused the Kurdish parties of fraud in the 2005 election and, together with other non-Kurdish groups asked for federal troops to UN monitors to protect the voting centres. A candidate for the Sunni Arab "Iraq for Us" coalition was killed by a gunman who walked into a cafe and shot him. Just before the election another Sunni Arab candidate, this time from the National Unity List, was killed outside his home in Mosul.

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