Voter turnout reached 20.46 percent after the first five hours of voting in Latvia's parliamentary election on Saturday, the Latvian Central Election Commission reported at noon.

Voters are going to the polls across Latvia in the general election this Saturday, with 13 political parties and electoral blocs competing for the 100 seats in the Saeima, or the Latvian parliament.

Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma cast her ballot at a polling station in Jaunmarupe, just outside Riga. She said she voted for her centre-right party Unity.

The prime minister urged people to turn out and vote actively, stressing that each vote is of importance.

Left-wing party Harmony's leader Nils Usakovs, who is also the current mayor of the Latvian capital city Riga, said after casting his vote that Latvia would be safe in Harmony's hands.

The polling stations in Latvia and also in a number of foreign countries will remain open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., the Central Election Commission said.

According to a public opinion poll conducted by SKDS research and polling company in the run-up to the election, five parties are each likely to win more than five percent of the vote, necessary to get mandates in the Latvian parliament. They include the Harmony, the Unity, the centrist Greens and Farmers Union (ZZS), the nationalist conservative National Alliance and the leftist party For Latvia from the Heart.