Baghdad - Iraq's former deputy prime minister, Barham Saleh, was on Wednesday elected prime minister of the country's northern semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

Kurdish Parliament Speaker Kamal Karkouki pronounced Saleh prime minister following a 73-28 parliamentary vote in his favour, Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported.

Saleh has previously served as prime minister of the Kurdish Regional Government - from 2001-2004. He replaces Nechirvan Barzani.

He has for years been an important and familiar figure in Iraqi politics. As deputy to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, he was in charge of the government's economic committee.

Saleh had served as deputy prime minister in the Iraq's interim government in mid-2004 and as minister of planning in 2005, before being invited to join al-Maliki's government.

Saleh played a leading role in campaigning for the incumbent coalition of Kurdish parties in their successful push for re-election in July.

The alliance of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Kurdish regional president Massoud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, in which Saleh is a leading figure, received 57.34 percent of the parliamentary vote. (dpa)