Voting in Macedonia's parliamentary elections ended at 7 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) on Wednesday, with minor irregularities but no reports of serious incidents.

Isolated incidents included a smoke bomb going off in a polling station at a Skopje elementary school, but causing no damage or injuries, Macedonia's independent news agency Makfax reported.

In contrast to a relatively quiet voting process, the pre- election campaign in June had been marred by violence.

Macedonia aspires to join NATO in 2008 and the European Union in 2012. NATO and EU officials have warned that a free and fair election is critical for the Balkan nation's accession.

This was Macedonia's fifth election since the tiny country of 2 million people seceded from the former six-republic Yugoslav federation in 1991.

About 1.7 million voters were eligible to cast their votes for a 120-seat parliament from more than 30 political parties.

Source: Xinhua