Serbians voted Sunday in a general election that was likely to return pro-European Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to power but also give a voice in parliament to the pro-Russian far-right.
While Vucic's Progressive Party is projected to win about half of the votes, ultra-nationalists who want the Balkan country to deepen its alliance with Russia, instead of Europe, are also expected to make a comeback.
After failing to win seats in the past two elections, the hardline Radical party is polling in third place, meaning its virulently anti-Western leader Vojislav Seselj could become the leading opposition figure in parliament.
Seselj, 61, was recently acquitted of war crimes arising from the 1990s Balkan wars, in a shock ruling from UN judges at The Hague.
Premier Vucic, a former Seselj ally turned pro-European centrist, said he was "not going to make any compromise" with right-wing parties as he cast his vote in a rainy Belgrade suburb.
"I'm almost certain that we'll carry on our EU integration process," he said, hoping that voters would choose a "European path".
Vucic, 46, called the early election saying he needed a clear mandate to press ahead with the potentially unpopular reforms required to join the European Union.
But critics see the vote as an attempt to consolidate power, expressing concerns about Vucic's authoritarian tendencies including curbs on media freedom.
Serbia, home to seven million people, opened the first stages in EU membership negotiations in December, although Brussels has said there will be no further enlargement of the bloc until 2020.
The election is Serbia's third in four years and enthusiasm appeared in short supply as voters queued at polling stations, which are due to close at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT). First results are expected before midnight.
"We have elections too often," said retired Jelica Nikolic, 68, in Belgrade, saying she and her husband Radomir were voting more out of duty than conviction.
In the southwestern city of Novi Pazar, Edib Mahmutovic, 40, hoped the victors would "create new jobs that enable us to stay here and not have to look for a better life elsewhere in Europe".
- 'Renounce the EU' -
Vucic's current Socialist coalition partners are trailing him in second place in opinion polls, while fragmented liberal opposition groups are expected to just make the threshold for entering the 250-seat parliament.
Pro-Russian far-right groups, including Seselj's Radicals, are expected between them to take 10 to 15 percent of votes.
Although a victory is out of reach, Serbia's low living standards and high unemployment, plus Western demands to streamline the inefficient state sector, may boost the nationalists' support.
As he voted in the capital, Seselj said the Radicals could only form a coalition "with parties that renounce the European Union and favour integration with Russia".
At his last campaign rally, he said Serbia "will be safe only if it aligns with Moscow, which has always helped us and never bombed us" -- a reference to the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia during the Kosovo war.
Russia, a fellow Slavic and largely Orthodox Christian country, is seen as a supportive big brother figure by many Serbians -- especially for denying the sovereignty of Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
Although Vucic has warned voters of the far-right threat, analysts say having hardliners in parliament could be a useful tool for the premier to present himself as a moderate leader.
"The Radicals' presence could be a good way for the Progressive Party to claim there is pluralism in Serbia," said Bojan Klacar at the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy.
