Serbian parliamentary and local elections have ended on Sunday with a poor turnout.

A bit more than 50 percent of some 6.8 million registered voters cast their ballots by 7 p.m. local time. That's more than 9 percentage points lower than the February presidential runoff.

The elections are seen as a referendum on the country's integration into the European Union.

The State Electoral Commission said early turnout was strong.

After casting his vote, the leader of the Serbian Radical Party, Tomislav Nikolic, said Sunday's elections saw Serbia enter a new phase of change.

"The people of Serbia will be able to think differently, not to think in the way that has been promoted over the last eight years as the only path for a better life, for prosperity, for progress. For the people of Serbia, today is the day they will feel a change for the better."

The parliamentary and local elections were also held in Kosovo despite opposition from the United Nations and Kosovo Albanians.

The vote was called in March after the year-old government of conservative nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica collapsed in a rift over ties with the European Union after most EU nations recognized Kosovo's independence.