MADRID, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish government considers the atmosphere of normality surrounding the Catalan regional election to be "positive", government sources are quoted by news agency EFE as saying on Thursday.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his government have highlighted the absence of incidents of any kind and an atmosphere of normality, as 5,554,394 eligible Catalan voters are called to vote for their 135-seat regional parliament.

The polls opened at 9:00 local time (GMT 0800) with long queues outside of many polling stations. A record turnout of around 82 percent was predicted, well above the 74.9-percent turnout in the last election held in September 2015.

Participation figures published at 18:00 local time showed a turnout of 68.33 percent, over 5 percent higher than the 2015 figure of 63.12 percent with two hours remaining until the polls close.

The regional election was called by the Spanish central government, invoking article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, in the wake of the Catalan regional parliament rushing through a unilateral declaration on independence on Oct. 27.