In the poll, some 1.7 million eligible voters will choose from about 2,700 candidates for Macedonia's 120-seat parliament in the fourth general elections since the country's independence a decade ago.
Preliminary results are expected to be announced within 12 hours of the closing of the vote, according to the State Electoral Commission.
The election takes place after a campaign hit by minor violence, and will be monitored by some 7,000 observers including nearly 500 foreigners from international non-governmental organisations.
It is seen as a test of Macedonia's bid for European Union and NATO integration.
The former Yugoslav republic became an official EU candidate in December last year, with a date for the opening of accession talks yet to be set. Skopje also hopes to join NATO in 2008.
The government of Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski has been credited with stabilising the country since it was on the brink of a civil war five years ago between Macedonian Slav forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
The main opposition VMRO-DPMNE party of Nikola Gruevski has a slight lead in recent opinion polls on an economic plaform for Macedonia, where unemployment runs at over 36 percent.