LJUBLJANA, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Around 1.7 million voters took to the polls on Sunday in the country's fifth parliamentary elections, pitting Prime Minister Janez Jansa against the opposition Social Democrats.

    Early polls showed that the race between Jansa's Slovenian Democratic Party and the Social Democrats were too close to call, as both sides rallying 25-30 percent of the vote.

    The voting started at 7 a.m. local time (GMT 0600) and will run until 7 p.m. (GMT 1800), after which the first exit polls will be published.

    The first unofficial results are expected to be published by midnight on Sunday. Votes coming in by mail will then be added on Monday.

    The National Electoral Commission will wait for votes from abroad until Sept. 29, before publishing the official results.

    This is the country's fifth general election since its independence in 1991. The seats in parliament will be distributed according to a proportional representation system that was enacted ahead of the 2000 general election, with the only exception being the two seats reserved for the Italian and Hungarian minorities, who are elected under a majority system.