(22 Mar 2009)
1. Wide of street
2. Billboards
3. People walking
4. Statue of former Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito
5. Polling station
6. People voting
7. Front-runner candidate of the governing VMRO-DPMNE party Gjorgje Ivanov, arriving at the polling station
8. Ivanov's documents
9. Ivanov registering to vote
10. Ivanov and his wife voting
11. Various of Ivanov voting
12. SOUNDBITE (Macedonian) Gjorgje Ivanov, front-runner candidate of the governing VMRO-DPMNE party:
"I expect these elections to be free and fair. It is essential for Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic integration. That's why we have the responsibility and we should meet all demands in order to open our path to the European future."
13. Ivanov leaving with wife
14. Wide of billboards in street
STORYLINE
Macedonians voted amid tight security on Sunday in presidential and local elections considered an important test of the country's ability to hold a fair and violence-free ballot.
Last year's parliamentary elections were marred by fraud and gunfights between supporters of rival ethnic Albanian parties that left one person dead and several injured.
The violence was the worst since 2001, when minority ethnic Albanians fought a six-month insurgency, saying they were seeking more rights.
The conduct of Sunday's vote is critical for the former Yugoslav republic's long-held ambitions to join the European Union and NATO.
Macedonia is of Europe's poorest countries, with unemployment running at about 35 percent and a struggling economy.
Hundreds of extra police were deployed to ensure a peaceful vote, and authorities stressed they would tolerate no violence.
Nearly 7,000 Macedonian and about 500 foreign election observers were monitoring.
Heavy snowfall in some areas prevented 103 of the country's nearly 3,000 polling stations to open.
Voting in those stations would be repeated in two weeks' time, an electoral commission spokesman told the AP.
The affected polling stations had 12,000 voters registered, less than 1 percent of the total 1.8 million eligible voters.
State electoral commission head Aleksandar Novakovski said turnout at 1 p.m. (1200 GMT) stood at 26.24 percent.
The independent civic organisation MOST, which is contributing about 4,000 election monitors, reported some irregularities at several polling stations, such as attempts at group voting and one attempt at ballot stuffing.
Novakovski said the electoral commission had not received any official complaints of irregularities.
Seven candidates are vying for Macedonia's five-year presidency, including a former interior minister acquitted of war crimes by the UN tribunal in The Hague.
Outgoing President Branko Crvenkovski is not seeking a second term.
Although the presidency is largely ceremonial, the president can be influential in areas such as foreign policy.
A first-round victory requires an absolute majority, but the vote is expected to go to a runoff on April 5. Forty percent of eligible voters must vote for the runoff to be valid.
Front-runner Gjorgje Ivanov, 49, of the governing VMRO-DPMNE, holds a roughly 10-point lead in opinion polls on his closest rival, Ljubomir Frckoski, 51, who is backed by the Social Democratic SDSM.
"I expect these elections to be free and fair. It is essential for Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic integration," Ivanov said after casting his ballot in Skopje.
Ethnic Albanian Imer Selmani has been third in opinion polls, followed by former interior minister Ljube Boskoski, running as an independent.
Boskoski was acquitted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague in July 2008 and returned home to a hero's welcome.

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