RIGA, June 5 (LETA) - 88,462 voters or 21.49 percent of eligible voters cast their votes by noon after polling stations opened for the local government elections this morning, according to the Central Election Commission's data.

The highest activity in the first hour of the elections was in Vidzeme, where 23.02 percent of eligible voters have voted by noon.

At the same time, in Latgale, 22.46 percent eligible voters voted in the first five hours of election day, while in Kurzeme - 19.82 percent, but in Zemgale 19.23 percent.

All 755 polling station opened throughout the country this morning without any major problems to report.

As reported, Latvians go to the polls for the local government elections today.

Voting stations opened throughout the country at 7:00 a.m. this morning, and will close at 8:00 p.m.

In all, 964,339 Latvian residents are eligible to vote in the local government elections.

This year, local elections in Latvia are taking place in 40 municipalities - six cities and 34 regions. The newly created South Kurzeme region, for instance, is one constituency and voters in this region can cast their ballots at any polling station within its territory.

There will be no elections in Riga this year because the capital city's council was already elected last year. Also, local elections have been put off in the regions of Rezekne county after the Supreme Court invalidated the Varaklani region's merger with the Rezekne region.