(BELGRADE) - Serbia voted Sunday in snap general elections that give its people the stark choice of entering or rebuffing the European Union after the trauma of losing Kosovo, their historic heartland.

Faced with picking between ultra-nationalists and pro-Westerners, voters took advantage of spring sunshine to turn out in "unprecedented" numbers -- 6.1 percent -- in the first three hours of polling, said election monitors CeSID.

The ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party is running neck-and-neck with a pro-European alliance spearheaded by President Boris Tadic, each credited with around one third of the vote, according to latest surveys.

The elections are seen as the most important in the eight years since democratic forces overthrew late autocratic president Slobodan Milosevic, whose regime the Radicals supported.

After casting his ballot in the capital Belgrade, Radicals leader Tomislav Nikolic vowed to end Serbia's integration with the European Union unless it accepts Kosovo as a part of the country.

"With the European Union, we should not negotiate about anything anymore, without it first clearly saying that Serbia is recognised as a whole," Nikolic told reporters outside a kindergarten serving as a polling station.

For years the strongest single force in parliament, the Radicals are again expected to fall short of an outright majority. But this time they look likely to form a government with outgoing nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS).

"I hope that we will form a government during the next week. Now I can openly say that we would like to form a government with the DSS," Nikolic said.

More than 6.7 million voters -- including more than 115,000 Serbs in Kosovo, the tense Albanian-majority province which broke away from Serbia in February -- will elect 250 parliamentary deputies, as well as local councillors.

The elections were called in March after Kostunica's year-old government collapsed in a rift over ties with the European Union after most EU nations recognised Kosovo's independence.

"The May 11 elections are a form of referendum at which citizens will decide on whether or not Serbia ... will be a member of the European Union," Tadic said in a pitch to voters at the end of a spiteful campaign.

The parliamentary and local elections will also be held in Kosovo despite opposition from the United Nations and Kosovo Albanians, who see the local polls as an illegal attempt by Serbia to partition the breakaway territory.

The parliament of Kosovo, whose ethnic Albanians make up around 90 percent of its 1.8 million population, unilaterally declared independence on February 17.

Since then, about 40 countries led by the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan and most of the 27-nation European Union have recognised Kosovo, fuelling anti-Western anger, protests and violence in Serbia.

That has bolstered hardliners who want stronger ties with Russia, China, Arab and African nations instead of countries that have helped to carve off what most Serbs consider the cradle of their history, culture and Orthodox Christian religion.

Apart from Kosovo, politicians have also promised better living standards, a key concern in Serbia which is still impoverished after years of economic sanctions for its aggression during the bloody 1990s break-up of Yugoslavia.

"I just want to live a normal life, to make plans for future, not to survive from day to day," said Ljubinka Josic, a 34-year-old teacher whose salary of 300 euros (460 dollars) barely meets her monthly needs.

Running on the ticket "For a European Serbia," Tadic's Democratic Party (DS) may have gained a few popularity points after signing a pre-membership accord with the European Union in late April.

Polling stations remain open until 8:00 pm (1800 GMT). Early result estimates are expected two hours later.

Whichever party wins the race, it will need to form a coalition with at least one other party, including the Socialists founded by Milosevic and the Liberal Democrats whose leader Cedomir Jovanovic negotiated his arrest in 2001.

The vote will be monitored by more than 2,000 local observers, as well as several international delegations, including representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

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