Serbian parliamentary and local elections ended at 8 p.m. local time on Sunday with a surprisingly low turnout.
According to the non-governmental monitoring institution the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID), only 54.2 percent of some 6.75 million registered voters cast their ballots by 7 p.m. (1700 GMT), more than 9 percentage points lower than the February presidential runoff.
The 8,286 polling stations throughout Serbia closed at 8 p.m., with no major irregularities reported, CeSID said.
The early elections, seen as a referendum on the country's integration into the European Union, were triggered by the collapse of the fragile ruling coalition of pro-Western President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party and the nationalist caretaker Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Serbian Democratic Party. The two clashed over ties with the European Union after most EU members recognized Kosovo's independence.
The ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on Feb. 17 and has been recognized by some 40 countries including the United States and most EU member states. Serbia and its traditional ally Russia oppose it.
The two front runners in the elections are ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party which wants closer ties with Russia and strongly opposes the secession of Kosovo, and the pro-Western DS who favors speedy integration into the EU.
Neither party can get the majority needed to form a government, thus the nationalist Kostunica could once again be the kingmaker.
The vote were monitored by a dozen international organizations including the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Duma, the Russian Public Institute of Electoral Law, and the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Source:Xinhua
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