Macedonians came out in droves to vote in snap polls Sunday hoping to push their leaders to focus on overcoming the economic crisis and solve the name-row with Greece that is blocking EU entry.

Two hours before the polls were due to close at 7 pm (1700 GMT), the turnout was 53.86 percent of some 1.8 million eligible voters, according to Boris Kondarko, the chairman of the state electoral commission.

He said that only minor irregularities had been reported and were dealt with immediately.

The turnout figure were significantly higher -- more than eight percent -- compared to previous elections in 2008, won by incumbent Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his 24-party rightist coalition VMRO-DPMNE.

Gruevski, seeking his third term as prime minister, said he expected his party to win the polls.

"I think the reforms in Macedonia will triumph," Gruevski said after the vote.

Its main rival in the race to fill the 123-seat parliament is the leftist-led SDSM of Branko Crvenkovski, which walked out of the parliament in January after the authorities froze the bank accounts of the pro-opposition A1 television station during a tax probe of their owner.

Crvenkovski said a victory for his party would bring "changes and new perspectives for all citizens of Macedonia."

The latest surveys gave the VMRO-DPMNE the lead, but many believe it will fall short of winning a majority.

Gruevski has pledged to continue reforms necessary to prepare the landlocked Balkan state to join the European Union and NATO.

The opposition has accused him of corruption, rigid control of the media and inadequate investment in the country.

Although Skopje officially became a candidate for EU membership in 2005, hopes of joining the union have been blocked by a 19-year-old name dispute with Greece.

Greece has a northern province called Macedonia and says the use of the same name by its neighbour implies a claim on Greek territory.

Macedonia filed an application with the International Court of Justice in 2008, claiming Greece was violating its rights by blocking its NATO membership pending the resolution of the name dispute.

Hearings before the ICJ were held in March, and the judges are expected to present their ruling later this year.

Both the government and the opposition largely avoided the issue during the campaign, pledging only that any proposed name change would be tested in a referendum.

Student Tine Jakupovski said he was angered by the politicians' "empty words on Europe and integration, while everyone knows there will be no EU until the agreement with Greece is reached."

He was one of many Macedonians disappointed with the slow pace of economic reforms and disillusioned by continuous political bickering.

Anita Petrusevska, a 33-year-old unemployed engineer, said that "neither the government nor the opposition offers anything new."

Macedonians have an average salary of about 350 euros (500 dollars) a month and almost one-third of the potential workforce is unemployed.

The country's ethnic Albanians, who make up one quarter of the two-million-strong population, will likely emerge as kingmaker in the formation of the future government.

They insist that joining the EU bloc will help ensure there is no repeat of the inter-ethnic conflict that shook the country a decade ago.

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

Preliminary results are expected early Monday.