ISTANBUL, Shawwal 14, 1435, August 10, 2014, SPA -- Turks were voting in their first direct presidential election Sunday, AP reported. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the strong front-runner to replace the incumbent, Abdullah Gul, for a five-year term. Erdogan is running against two other candidates. His main challenger is Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, a 70-year-old academic and former chief of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation who is backed by several opposition parties. The third candidate is 41-year-old Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas. Some 53 million people are eligible to vote; a candidate needs an absolute majority for victory. If none wins enough ballots, a runoff between the top two will be held on Aug. 24. --SPA 12:30 LOCAL TIME 09:30 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w