BELGRADE, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Slovenia's presidential election closed at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Sunday after 12 hours of voting, while exit polls have showed that a run-off is expected as there is no clear winner.
The latest unofficial data from the National Electoral Commission shows that 43.03 percent of the nearly 1.7 million registered voters cast their vote in Sunday's presidential election until 4 p.m. (1400 GMT).
This is the fourth presidential election in Slovenia since it gained independence from federal Yugoslavia in 1991, but the turnout is the lowest in comparison with the previous three presidential elections, in which the turnouts until 4 p.m. were well above 50 percent.
Exit polls show a near three-way tie in the presidential ballot. The difference between the front-runner Lojze Peterle and his two major rivals, Danilo Tuerk and Mitja Gaspari, is less than 3 percentage points, according to polls commissioned by public broadcaster RTV Slovenija and commercial broadcaster POP TV.
The Valicon poll for TV Slovenija sees former Prime Minister Peterle securing 27.44 percent of the vote, followed by Gaspari, former central bank governor, with 25.63 percent and Tuerk, former senior UN diplomat, with 24.52 percent.
The Mediana poll for POP TV meanwhile gives Peterle 25.8 percent of the vote, just edging out Tuerk with 25.6 percent, and followed closely by Gaspari with 24.4 percent.
Opposition National Party (SNS) leader Zmago Jelincic is fourth in both bolls, mustering 20.5 percent in the Mediana poll and 18.4percent in the Valicon survey.
The rest of the 7-candidate is far behind the top four: Darko Kranjc is shown to have taken around 2.5 percent of the vote, while Elena Pecaric and Monika Piberl failed to pass 1 percent.
Peterle, 59, is running as an independent but is supported by the ruling center-right coalition. He is sure to enter the run-off on Nov. 11 as one of top two candidates.
The official results will not be available until after Oct. 29,the deadline for the ballots that come in from abroad by mail. Some 73,000 Slovenian citizens living abroad are eligible to vote.
