"By the deadline for candidates on Tuesday, we had received all the documents necessary for Mohammad Tofiq Rahim to be a candidate for the presidency of Kurdistan. He is the only person to have declared himself a candidate," electoral commission Yari Hadji Omar told AFP by telephone from the regional capital Arbil.

The region, which last week voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence in a referendum rejected by Baghdad, will hold presidential and legislative elections on November 1.

Barzani has said repeatedly he would not stand for re-election.