Chisinau - Former Moldovan president Petru Lucinschi endorsed opposition parties running against the ruling Communists in upcoming parliamentary elections, the Infotag news agency reported Monday.

Lucinschi served in Moldova's highest office from 1997 to 2001, when he was replaced by Moldova Communist party boss Vladimir Voronin.

Moldovans should vote for "a younger generation" to throw out "the present generation in power," Lucinschi said at a Chisinau press conference.

He declined to single out any of the 11 political parties on the ballot for the April 5 vote with the Communists, saying "I know whom I have chosen, and I am sure it is the right choice."

But Lucinschi's public remarks - rare for a former Moldovan chief executive, seemed to single out the number two Liberal Party and its 29-year-old figurehead leader Dorin Chiroaca, one of Moldova's best- known post-Soviet politicians.

"I call on advanced age persons to vote for youth, and to give them the chance to run the country. It is a fine thing that we have people the age of 30-40, talented, well-prepared young people, patriots, who are able to manage the country," Lucinschi said.

The leading Communist party draws its main support from rural Moldovans, and those living on pensions or other low incomes.

Election fraud remained a possibility in the upcoming vote, Lucinschi warned, and political parties of all stripes needed to be on guard against vote-fixing, he said.

"We cannot stop this tendency (to fix election results) completely, but hopefully we can limit its effects and stop the plans of those who intend to undermine the election," Lucinschi said.

Moldova's Communists are currently ahead in polls, appearing on track to capturing between 50 and 60 seats in Moldova's 101-member legislature.

The actual result could well not be so favourable to the Communists, however, as some 30 per cent of voters remain undecided, Lucinschi said. (dpa)