Voting ended Sunday in a Macedonian general election seen as a test of the country's democratic credentials but marred by a deadly shootout and reports of intimidation and ballot fraud.
  
Polling stations closed at 7:00 pm (1700 GMT) after 12 hours of voting across Macedonia, which aspires to European Union and NATO membership. Preliminary results are expected within three hours.
  
Two hours before voting ended, the electoral commission had put the turnout at 45.9 percent.
  
Sunday's snap parliamentary elections were the Balkan state's fifth since it won independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
  
Incumbent Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski called the polls in the hope of securing an absolute majority for his conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, after his fragile coalition was shaken by a failed bid to enter NATO.
  
However they were marred by a deadly shootout in which one person was killed and several others wounded after gunfire erupted when police were called to deal with a polling dispute in Aracinovo, an ethnic Albanian village north of Skopje.
  
Another gunbattle left several more wounded in Cair, a municipality on the capital's northern outskirts.
  
The incidents forced the State Electoral Commission to halt voting at up to 15 polling stations in areas including Aracinovo, a stronghold of Albanian guerillas who fought government forces in 2001.
 

Solana calls for rerun in violence-hit regions
  
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana called Sunday for a re-run of polling in areas marked by violence during Macedonia's general election.
  
"Solana calls for calm and demands a re-run of the elections in those polling stations where violence and disorder has taken place," his spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said.
  
Macedonian police said one person was killed and two others wounded after gunfire erupted when they were called to resolve a polling dispute Sunday in the ethnic Albanian village of Aracinovo, north of the capital Skopje.
  
The electoral commission halted voting at 10 to 15 polling stations around Aracinovo, a stronghold of ethnic Albanian rebels who fought government forces in Macedonia's 2001 conflict.
  
Another gunbattle left two wounded in northern Cair municipality, and there were reports of stolen and stuffed ballot boxes in other ethnic Albanian populated regions.
  
The European Union's executive arm, the European Commission, said it was "very concerned" by the incidents.
  
"We call for calm and restrain and we are continuing to follow the situation very closely," it said in a statement.