Macedonians voted Sunday in elections that many hope will speed up reforms necessary for membership in the European Union.

The chairman of the state electoral commission, Boris Kondarko, said toward the end of the day that voter turnout was nearly 54 percent, higher than in other recent elections. He said only minor irregularities had been reported.

About 1.8 million voters were eligible to cast their ballots to elect deputies for the 123-seat parliament, which will have a four-year mandate.

Early results are expected Monday.

The main contenders are the ruling 24-party coalition led by conservative Prime Minister Nicola Gruevski, and the leftist SDSM of Branko Crvenkovski.

The latest surveys gave Mr. Gruevski's coalition the lead, but many believe it will fall short of winning an outright majority.

Voting was monitored by around 3,500 local and 330 international observers.