Election of new governor marks shift in Diyala power structures

KHANAQIN - Diyala finally has a new governor, after an eight-month deadlock was resolved through a political deal with the potential to realign power structures in the oil and gas-rich province.

Incoming Governor Adnan al-Shammari, a member of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, has replaced Musanna al-Tamimi, a leading figure in the Badr Organization, a paramilitary group and political party that has long exercised dominant influence in the province.

Under the new structure, Badr will lose control over the highest levels of government in Diyala even as the widespread presence of its paramilitary forces ensures the group will continue to wield significant power — a cleavage of formal and informal authority that could create challenges for general stability in the province, and for oil and gas investment in particular.