(MENAFN) Citizens of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) began casting their ballots Sunday morning in the first round of the presidential election, according to official reports.

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and will remain open until 6 p.m. (1500 GMT), with 777 locations set up across the country to accommodate voters. The total number of registered voters stands at 218,313.

The incumbent president, Ersin Tatar, is seeking re-election as an independent candidate. His main challenger, Tufan Erhurman, is representing the opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP). Several other contenders are also in the race, including independents Mehmet Hasguler, Arif Salih Kirdag, Ahmet Boran, and Ibrahim Yazici, while Osman Zorba is standing on behalf of the Cyprus Socialist Party.

One of the initially listed candidates, Huseyin Gurlek, announced his withdrawal from the race on Saturday, publicly endorsing Tatar despite his name remaining on the ballot.

Under election regulations, a candidate must secure more than 50% of the vote to win outright in the first round. If no one achieves an absolute majority, the two candidates with the highest vote counts will proceed to a runoff scheduled within the following week. The winner of the second round will become the next president of the TRNC.

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