Serbia Registers 32% Voter Turnout by 2 pm

A file photo dated 09 December 2011 showing Serbia`s incumbent President Boris Tadic speaking at a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia. EPA/BGNES

The voter turnout in Serbia's elections was 32.1% by 2:00 pm on Sunday, a 2.7% more than in the 2008 elections, according to the local Center for Free Elections and Democracy.

The turnout in today's elections is similar to the one in the first round of the 2008 presidential elections, when 33 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot by 2 pm, the center's Program Director has told the Tanjug news agency.

So far, the lowest turnout has been registered in Belgrade (29.4%) and Vojvodina (30%), while the turnout has reached 33.8% in central Serbia.

The first-round vote on Sunday for Serbian president, and votes for a 250-seat national assembly and local councils, pit pro-EU democrats against nationalists. The two leading contenders are the Democratic Party of recent president Boris Tadic and Milosevic's former ally Tomislav Nikolic, of the right-wing populist Serbian Progressive Party.

A presidential run-off is expected on May 20, as both Tadic and Nikolic are unlikely to get more than 50% of the first-round vote that includes 12 candidates.

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