In pictures: Yugoslavs go to the polls

The people of Yugoslavia have been casting their ballots in the first direct vote for the country's presidency. The vote has been marred by reports of irregularities involving supporters of President Slobodan Milosevic.

Voters queue outside three adjacent polling stations in Belgrade. Unofficial monitors said turnout had beaten all records.

Mr Milosevic and his wife and coalition partner Mira Markovic voted amid much media attention in the luxury Dedinje district.

Also attracting the cameras was opposition rival Vojislav Kostunica, who said the people of Yugoslavia needed a change.

Russian ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, an election observer, inspects watermarks on voting papers in Belgrade.

In Montenegro, people voted in makeshift polling stations after the country's leadership declared a boycott of the poll.

Yugoslav military police guarded some polling stations in Montenegro, a move denounced by the republic's leaders.

Minority Serbs voted in Kosovo, but Albanians ignored the poll. The opposition accused Milosevic of manipulating votes there.