ISTANBUL: Recep Tayyip Erdogan was set to be Turkey’s next president after local media credited the veteran prime minister with more than half the vote in a near-complete count and allies said Erdogan had won.

Broadcasters said Erdogan had 52.0 percent of Sunday’s vote, 13 points more than his closest rival. Such a result would rule out a runoff round and seal Erdogan’s place in history as Turkey’s first directly elected head of state, a role expected to enhance his power.

In a Twitter message confirmed by his office, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said: “Erdogan has become the first president elected by the people.” The deputy chairman of his ruling AK party said Erdogan won with just over 52 percent.

Erdogan himself said “the people have shown their will” but stopped short of declaring victory in comments to supporters in Istanbul.

The main opposition candidate, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, was on 38.8 percent with 90 percent of votes counted while Selahattin Demirtas of the pro-Kurdish, left-wing People’s Democratic Party was on 9.2 percent, said television stations CNN Turk and NTV.

In a tea house in the working-class Istanbul district of Tophane, men watching election coverage on television praised Erdogan as a pious man of the people who had boosted Turkey’s status both economically and on the international stage.

“Erdogan is on the side of the underdog. He is the defender against injustice. While the Arab world was silent, he spoke out against Israel on Gaza,” said Murat, 42, a jeweller, who declined to give his family name.