Turkish voter turnout 'pride of democratic life': Arab-Israeli lawmaker

By Abdelrauf Arnaut and Mahmut Geldi

JERUSALEM (AA) – Ahmed Tibi, an Arab member of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), on Tuesday hailed the high voter turnout in the Turkish elections as a "pride of democratic life."

"The high turnout in Türkiye’s elections is the pride of democratic life," Tibi told Anadolu.

Millions of voters cast ballot on Sunday to elect the country's next president and the members of its 600-seat parliament.

Voter turnout in the elections was 88.92%, with turnout from Turkish citizens abroad at 52.69%, according to Ahmet Yener, head of the Supreme Election Council.

The first round of voting ended with no candidate able to clear the required 50% threshold, but incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took the lead, Yener said, citing unofficial results.

Erdogan finished the first round with 49.51% of the vote, while his closest competitor Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), came second at 44.88%, Yener said.

Sinan Ogan of the ATA (Ancestral) Alliance got 5.17%, while Muharrem Ince, who withdrew from the presidential race late last week after ballots had already been printed, got 0.44%.

As no candidate was able to win an outright majority in Sunday’s vote, a second-round runoff will be held on May 28.

In the parliamentary elections, the People’s Alliance, led by Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), got 49% of the votes, obtaining over 320 seats in 600-seat parliament.

As the Turkish elections were closely followed throughout the Middle East region, Tibi said: "Ankara has a growing geopolitical role and has shown a great interest in the Palestinian cause, particularly by President Erdogan."

"Like all Palestinians, I followed the elections in Türkiye closely,"Tibi said, adding that the high voter turnout "shows that the Turkish people are willing to direct the course of their lives and to become a partner in sealing the country’s fate."

The Arab lawmaker termed the high voter turnout in Türkiye as a "lesson", citing that European voter turnout is generally low.

Türkiye is a country that can be shown as an example in the world in this regard, he added.

*Writing by Burak Dag in Ankara