Barzani president of Iraq's Kurdistan

BAGHDAD, June 12 (UPI) -- The Iraqi Kurdish Parliament Sunday elected Masoud Barzani of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan as the first president of the region.

He was chosen president for the next four years after Barzani's party and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Unity of Kurdistan agreed on who would assume the position following months of negotiations.

The new Kurdish president was supposed to take the oath of office Sunday, but was postponed until Tuesday due to sand storms that were sweeping southern and central Iraq, preventing officials from attending the ceremony.