KDP to Determine Candidate for Iraqi Kurdistan Presidency Within Week - Official

A senior official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party told Sputnik that the party would determine the candidate for the autonomy's presidency in a week.

ERBIL (Sputnik) — The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), ruling in Iraqi Kurdistan, will determine the candidate for the post of the autonomy's head within a week, head of the party's faction in Iraqi Kurdistan's parliament Omed Khoshnaw told Sputnik.

"Now, after the referendum, we are just hoping that within a week the matter will be set in motion and the issue will be resolved because the main thing was done," Khoshnaw said, adding that it was unknown yet who would be the candidate from the party.

On Monday, the independence vote took place in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan as well as in the disputed areas officially controlled by Baghdad. More than 90 percent of voters cast their ballots in favor of gaining independence from Iraq according to local media. 

The central government in Baghdad has been pressing Erbil to cancel the results of the referendum over the past few days. Earlier on Wednesday, the Iraqi parliament instructed the government not to engage in a dialogue with Iraqi Kurds until the results of the referendum are canceled and gave Prime Minister Haider Abadi a "mandate" to send troops to the oil province of Kirkuk that is claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil. 

Baghdad also decided to ban flights to and from the airports of the autonomous region starting on Friday.