Sinan Ogan, candidate of the nationalist Ancestral Alliance (ATA) of three parties, has voted at Kocatepe Mimar Kemal Anatolian High School in Ankara.
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“I call on all of our citizens to cast their votes and I hope this election passes safely and peacefully,” told reporters after casting his vote.
Ogan is presently contending for the presidential office as the third candidate, alongside the current President, Recep Tayyib Erdoğan, and candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who leads the leftist, secular CHP.
Ogan, possessing a background in academic and international finance development, assumed the position as the sole contender for the presidential candidacy against the two primary opponents after the withdrawal of Muharrem Ince from the presidential race, a few days before the election.
“Neither Kılıçdaroğlu nor Erdoğan should expect me to withdraw; that will never happen,” Oğan said on Thursday in a televised interview with Turkish network Habertürk.
Despite most polls placing him last in the race, the ATA Alliance leader also sounded confident that he could now make it to the second round if that should happen.
A runoff is possible on May 28 if no candidate secures the required amount of votes.
To win the presidency in the first round, a candidate must obtain more than 50 percent of ballots cast.