Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), was elected president by the semi-autonomous region’s parliament today in a session that was boycotted by the second largest party.

Barzani, who is the nephew and son-in-law of the enclave’s veteran leader and former President Massoud Barzani, won 68 votes from 81 members present in the 111-member chamber. Members of the opposition Gorran (Change) Movement as well as Turkmens and Assyrians joined Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to push through the nomination despite the unexpected defection of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

In explaining its abstention, the PUK cited differences with the KDP over whom to back as the new governor of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk. New Generation, a fledgling opposition party, also boycotted the vote, saying it disagreed with how the new president was being elected.

Why it matters: The KDP says it had a deal with the PUK’s deputy secretary-general, Kosrat Rasool, to nominate a joint candidate, Faraidoun Abdulqadir, as governor of Kirkuk. “Everything was in place until 10 p.m. last night when the PUK politburo sent three other names for Kirkuk instead,” KDP lawmaker Hemin Hawrami told Al-Monitor.