Balloting in South Korea's parliamentary elections is going smoothly on Thursday, with indications that the voter turnout would be slightly higher than that of previous polls.

As of 2 p.m. (0500 GMT), the turnout was 43.2 percent of the 35.6 million eligible voters, compared with 40.8 percent by the same time in the 2000 general election.

The polls are to be closed at 6 p.m. (0900 GMT) and the National Election Commission predicted that the final voter turnout will be more than 60 percent, up from an all-time low of 57.2 percent four years ago.

The competition has come down to a two-way race between the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) and the pro-government Uri Party, which is loyal to impeached President Roh Moo-hyun.

The voter turnout is expected to serve as a key factor affecting the outcome of the polls. The GNP is more popular among older voters, while the Uri Party targets younger voters.

After polls opened at 6 a.m., people formed long queues at someof the 13,167 polling stations. Some people, wearing backpacks, stopped to cast ballots before heading for the mountains on the election day holiday.

President Roh Moo-hyun's appearance outside of the presidentialoffice was his first public appearance since March 12, when he wasimpeached for alleged illegal campaigning, corruption and incompetence by the opposition controlled National Assembly.

After voting finishes, ballot boxes will be sent to 248 vote-counting centers across the nation and official results are expected to be announced by midnight at the latest.

Up for grabs are 243 directly contested seats and 56 additionalseats to be distributed according to the total votes each party obtains.

Police are on higher alert, and about 26,000 officers have beendispatched to guard polling stations across the nation.

Source: Xinhua