Chisinau - Exit polls showed Moldova's ruling Communist party was well ahead after voting stations closed in elections for a national parliament held Sunday.

The party was on track to capture 45.5 per cent of the popular vote, some 3 - 5 per cent more than pre-election polls had predicted, according to a poll conducted by the IMAS survey company with European Union and US support.

The Liberal Democrat and Liberal parties appeared to be performing somewhat better than pre-election polls as well, as each groups was likely to capture 13.9 per cent of the popular vote, the survey said.

Our Moldova, like the two Liberal parties a supporter of closer Moldovan relations with Europe, would probably gather in 10 per cent of the vote, the survey said.

No other party in the contest was likely to overcome a 6 per cent popularity hurdle needed to place members in parliament, according to preliminary survey results.

The two Liberal parties, together Our Moldova, would even collectively not be able to challenge to Communists' majority control of the parliament, but were they to band together be able to prevent Communist-dictated changes to the constitution requiring 60 per cent support, observers said.

The vote generally took place without difficulties, with practically all polling sites opening as scheduled at 7 am (0400 GMT), according to officials from Moldova's Central Election Committee (CEC).

Turnout was in excess of 52 per cent of registered voters having cast their ballots by 6 pm (1500 GMT), according to the latest CEC statistics.

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

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

The most serious glitch in the voting took place in the eastern village Korzhova, where a crowd of "some 300 persons" blocked one polling site, breaking door locks and preventing voters and election officials from entering.

CEC spokesman Evgeny Stirbu said Korzhova residents were able to cast their ballots in the neighbouring Korchen and Ustie villages.

Dubasari is one of two Moldova-controlled districts on the left bank of the Dniester River. Korzhova is a village inhabited predominantly by ethnic Moldovans, and located in Dubosari's suburbs.

Almost all of the Dniester's left bank is controlled by Transnistria, a renegade Moldavian province independent of Chisinau since 1992. The identity of those who blocked the Korzhova polling site had not been confirmed by mid-afternoon.

A few Chisinau city polling sites found less than 100 people not listed on the voters' roll, but they voted anyway after providing identification documents, NIT television reported.

Officials from the Voters' Coalition of Moldova reported incidence of interference with "free voter movement" in two villages, and a voting official giving citizens hints on which party to vote for in the southern village Ecaterinovca, but said the vote "overall was going very smoothly."

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin cast his ballot early at a polling site in a Chisinau middle school.

"I voted for development, for Moldova, and for the Moldovan people," Voronin told reporters.

Leader of the country's Communist party, he predicted a strong showing for the Communists saying he was "in the best of moods... After the election we (Communists) will build a European Moldova."

More than 3,100 observers were monitoring the election, according to CEC officials. There were no reports of serious problems in the day's polling by the time voting sites closed.

"A democratic coalition is going to rule," said Vlad Filat, chairman of the Liberal Democrats. The Communists would fail to obtain a majority, he predicted in mid-afternoon comments.

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

Polling ended on schedule at 9 pm (1800 GMT), with the first official results available early Monday morning, election officials said. dpa