Atheel Nejefi elected as Ninewa governor

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: The Ninewa provincial council during its first session on Sunday elected Atheel al-Nejefi as governor, Jabr al-Abdrabbo as chief of the council, an official media source in the city said. “Faisal Abdullah al-Yawir was also elected as first deputy governor, Judge Hassan Mahmoud Ali as second deputy and Wild-dar Zebari as deputy chief of the local council,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. “All the elected figures belong to the al-Hadbaa list except Hassan Mahmoud Ali, who was elected from outside the council,” he added. Earlier on Sunday, a local information official said that tight security measures were in place around the provincial council building in Ninewa as the new lineup will convene the first session. The final results of the Ninewa provincial council elections, held on January 31, 2009, saw al-Hadbaa list winning 19 seats, followed by the Ninewa Fraternity list with 12 seats and the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi three seats as well as one seat for each of the Christians, the Shabaks and Yazidis. AmR (P) 1