JERUSALEM, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The leader of Israel's main Arab political alliance Joint List called for high Arab turnout in Tuesday's parliamentary elections.
"This is our opportunity to be Type A voters and to stop being Type B citizens," Ayman Odeh tweeted on Tuesday.
Odeh cast his ballot in a polling station in the northern city of Haifa and called on his constituency to vote.
He said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "an obsessive prime minister who is inciting against us," referring to Netanyahu's accusation of frauds in Arab towns without providing evidence.
Netanyahu also accused Arab voters of trying "to steal" the elections.
A bid by Netanyahu to pass a law to place cameras in polling stations on election day in Arab voting areas had failed last week.
In an effort to energize his right-wing supporters, Netanyahu went on an "emergency" live broadcast on his Facebook page and said that Arab turnout was especially high, without providing evidence.
"The rule of the right-wing is in danger, and everyone must go out and vote," he said.
The Joint List contradicted Netanyahu's remarks, saying that according to their figures "there is a slight increase in the voting rates among the Arab population, but it still does not approach the Jewish public voting rate."
"Netanyahu inflates the voting rates among the Arab public to produce a fake image in order to suppress voting and encourage Arab voters not to vote," the political alliance said in a statement.
Turnout among Israel's Arab minority is traditionally lower than among the Jewish public, with many boycotting the elections. In April's elections, less than 50 percent of the eligible Arab voters cast ballots.
The Joint List is an alliance of four Arab and Arab-Jewish parties that run together in a bid to boost turnout.
The parliamentary elections are a closely-fought race between Netanyahu, who struggles for his political survival amidst corruption allegations, and Benny Gantz, Israel's former chief of forces and the leader of the newly-formed centrist party of Blue and White.
The unprecedented elections are being held five months after the previous voting took place. Netanyahu called for the snap elections after failing to form a governing coalition.
