"The number of candidates for the elections in Kurdistan is six candidates," said Hamdiya al-Husseini, regional chief in Arbil of the Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq.

"The electoral campaign will begin after the approval of the names of the candidates," she said.

Kurdish elections for parliament and the presidency will come seven months after provincial polls were held in most of the rest of Iraq, the first vote in the country since 2005.

Among those running for the president's post are the incumbent, Massud Barzani, Halo Ibrahim Ahmed -- a brother of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's wife, London-based academic Kamal Mirawdly and businessman Hussein Karmiani.

Safin Sheikh Mohammed, a businessmen, and Ahmed Kourdeh, an independent politician, will also contest the vote after registering just ahead of the May 22 deadline, the commission said.

This is the first time the president of Kurdistan will be elected by popular vote. In 2005, Barzani was elected by the local parliament.

About 2.5 million people are eligible to vote, according to the regional Kurdistan election commission, and more than 40 political entities have registered to contest the 111 seats in the assembly.

The three provinces in northern Iraq that make up the autonomous region, along with the disputed province of Kirkuk, did not take part in the relatively violence-free provincial polls held in Iraq's 14 other provinces on January 31.