Anwar congratulates Erdogan on historic election win

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has joined other world leaders in congratulating Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for winning a historic runoff election on Sunday, the toughest challenge of his political career.

Anwar also expressed Malaysia's eagerness to collaborate closely with Turkiye to further strengthen their already good bilateral relations.

“Congratulations to President Erdogan for being elected as the 13th president of the Republic of Turkiye in the recent presidential election.

“Turkiye will continue to play a constructive role as an important regional and global player,” Anwar, who shares strong ties with Erdogan, said in his tweet.

The chairperson of Turkiye’s Supreme Election Council, Ahmet Yener, announced that Erdogan has been reelected the president in runoff elections on Sunday.

Ahmet was reported as saying by Anadolu Agency that Erdogan won Turkiye’s presidency over opposition challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the second-round runoff vote.

According to unofficial results, the Turkish incumbent won the race with 52.14 percent, while Kilicdaroglu got 47.86 per cent of the votes, he said, adding that 99.43 percent of the ballot boxes have been opened so far.

In the first round of voting on May 14, Erdogan secured a nearly five-point lead over Kilicdaroglu but fell short of the 50 percent threshold needed to win.

The president’s parliamentary bloc won a majority of seats in the parliamentary race on the same day.

- Bernama