Moldovans vote in election re-run

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Moldovans are voting in the second parliamentary election in four months, with memories still fresh of the violence that followed the first poll.

A BBC correspondent says voting has been very brisk. The election authority says turnout has already exceeded the 33% required to make the vote valid.

Opposition parties claim the April vote was rigged in favour of the Communists.

The result prompted thousands of people to take to the streets, clashing with police and storming parliament.

Assessments of April's vote were mixed. Some international observers reported flaws but others found it generally fair.

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More than 3,000 foreign and Moldovan observers are supposed to be monitoring Wednesday's re-run, though one group pulled its 140 monitors out because some were barred, causing a storm of protest.

Polling stations opened at 0400 GMT and are due to close at 1800 GMT.

The Central Electoral Committee said the voting rate was ahead of that in April, and that a third of voters had posted ballots by early afternoon.

One of the first to vote was President Vladimir Voronin, a Communist. He warned that the authorities would not allow a repeat of the rioting that followed April's vote.

"Moldova cannot allow this a second time," he said.

"The security forces are ready to react to maintain the order and security of the country and will not allow a repeat of these sad events."

Mr Voronin is due to step down as president after serving the maximum of two terms.

However the Communist Party won only 60 of parliament's 101 seats in April - one short of the 61 seats needed to elect a new president. The opposition parties united to make sure the 61 target was not met, forcing parliament to be dissolved.

Coalition pledge

Opinion polls this month suggested a drop in support for the Communists.

One voter, 19-year-old Sasha from the capital Chisinau, said: "I am for the Communists. They create a certain stability. We can't continue like this, with demonstrations and repeat elections."

But Andreea Gaibu, 28, said: "We urgently need change. We need a free press and a free economy."

In Wednesday's vote, at least three opposition parties hope to join the Communist Party in parliament - the Liberal Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Our Moldova Alliance.

They have pledged to create a ruling coalition if they collectively gain enough votes.

They have also said that they will co-operate with the Communist Party in the new parliament if the "early election is fair, democratic and transparent".

Mr Voronin's successor will lead the poorest country in Europe - where the average wage is just under $250 (£151) a month - and will inherit an unresolved conflict over the breakaway region of Trans-Dniester.