Chisinau  - Polling sites across Moldova were operating normally on Sunday, as a vote to select a new parliament went ahead.

"Practically all" voting locations opened as scheduled at 7:00 am (0400 GMT), officials from Moldova's Central Election Committee said.

The election also will determine Moldova's next President, as the new parliament per constitutional statute will select a replacement for Moldova's current leader Vladimir Voronin.

Voting was proceeding normally with early turnout high in villages and rural areas, eyewitnesses said.

More than 3,100 observers are monitoring the vote, according to CEC officials.

Voting will take place at 1,944 polling sites within Moldova, and 34 polling sites abroad, election officials said.

Poll sites were not operating in Moldova's renegade province Transnistria, an ethnic Slav which enclave declared its independence from Chisinau after a civil war ending in 1992.

A total of 2.6 million Moldovan voters are registered to mark ballots with their choice of between 12 political parties and five individual candidates.

Parties receiving support of 6 per cent or more from voters nationwide will receive parliamentary seats on proportional basis. Persons running as individual candidates receive a seat if they obtain 3 per cent popular support.

The ruling Communist Party was likely to obtain some 40 per cent of the popular vote giving them between 50 and 60 seats in the 101-seat parliament, according to surveys.

The opposition Liberal and Liberal Democrat parties were projected to win a combined 20 to 30 seats, and two or three smaller parties had a chance of placing a few MPs in the legislature, polls said.

Polling was scheduled to end at 9 pm, with the first official results available early Monday morning, election officials said. (dpa)