The voter turnout hit 6.6 percent by 9 a.m. on Sunday, the record level in that period for the last three electoral cycles, the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) announced on Sunday.

At a press conference held at Tanjug's press club, CeSID Programme Director Marko Blagojevic said that in the 2008 parliamentary elections the turnout stood at 6.1 percent, in the 2008 presidential polls at 5 percent, and in the 2007 parliamentary elections at 4.6 percent for the same period.

CeSID observers, who are in attendance at 1,000 polling stations, also measured the turnout in regions, and determined that by 9 a.m., 5.5 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot in Belgrade, 6.8 percent in central Serbia, and 7 percent in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.

CeSID has no information about the turnout in Kosovo, since OSCE has not allowed its observers into the polling stations there.

Blagojevic said about a dozen irregularities had been recorded in the first two hours of the election - most of them delays in opening polling stations - but none of these brought into question the regularity of the election.

CeSID will next report on turnout at 3 pm, and then at 6 pm and 8 pm.

CeSID will announce the first preliminary results of the elections around 9:30 pm, and hold a final news conference at the Tanjug Press Club at 10 am Monday.

The Tanjug news agency and CeSID are organizing comprehensive election coverage throughout the day Sunday, and in the evening, a series of panel discussions on Serbia's political and economic future.