BAGHDAD, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi parliament on Monday approved the appointment of a Kurdish politician as deputy prime minister to replace another Kurdish politician who resigned last year after being elected as prime minister for the autonomous Kurdish region.

    "The Iraqi Council of Representatives approved the appointment of Roj Nouri Shawis to be deputy prime minister to replace Barham Saleh," the parliament said in a statement posted on its website.

    In mid 2009, Baghdad central government accepted the resignation of former deputy prime minister Barham Saleh who was assigned to the cabinet of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.

    Shawis took over several top posts in Iraq's central government and the KRG, including the post of vice president during Ayad Allawi's interim government in 2004-2005 and deputy premier during Ibrahim al-Jaafari's transitional government in 2005-2006.

    The Kurdish new deputy prime minister is one of two deputies of the Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and the other deputy is Rafa al-Essawi, a Sunni Arab.