By Dmitry Chubashenko and Dmitry Solovyov
CHISINAU/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moldovan authorities and opposition leaders agreed on Tuesday to a recount of votes cast in Sunday's parliamentary election, Russian news agencies reported, after demonstrators seized the president's offices.
Some 10,000 demonstrators massed for a second day in the capital of Europe's poorest country to denounce the victory by the Communist Party, led by veteran president Vladimir Voronin, as rigged and demand a new ballot.
Protesters hurled computers into the street while police took cover behind riot shields. They heaped tables and chairs onto a bonfire outside parliament. Fires were also lit inside.
Moldovan state television said one young woman choked to death from carbon monoxide poisoning in the parliament building.
It cited a senior doctor at Chisinau emergency hospital as saying 34 other protesters had been injured, including two in a serious condition in hospital. Some 80 police officers also received treatment for injuries, it said.
Opposition leaders called for a halt to the protests and said they were pressing for a recount of all votes cast.
But they did not confirm reports on Russian media that authorities had agreed to a full recount. Official results put the Communists in front with close to 50 percent of the vote.
Parliament elects the president, and the Communists appeared very close to securing the 61 seats they need in the 101-seat assembly to secure victory for their chosen candidate.
Most of the protesters are students who see no future if Communists keep their hold on the ex-Soviet state of 4 million people which is wedged between Ukraine and Romania -- on the European Union's border, but within what Russia sees as its sphere of influence.
The leaders of three opposition parties that won seats in parliament spoke to reporters after emerging from talks with Moldova's president and prime minister in the aftermath of protests that caused serious damage to public buildings.
"We must stop this violence," Dorin Chirtoaca, leader of the Liberal Party and mayor of Chisinau, said. "We must secure the right to a recount of all the votes. And we demanded the right to stage peaceful protests."
Vlad Filat of the Liberal Democrats said the opposition, which stands broadly for closer ties with neighboring Romania, was demanding the right to check all electoral lists.
"As a result of this, I can assure you that the elections were rigged and we will organize a new election."
Voronin, the only Communist president in Europe, accused protesters of seeking to destabilize the country and demanded an end to the "bacchanalia."
PROTESTERS ON ROOF
OPPOSITION DEMANDS NEW ELECTION
The opposition parties, which stand broadly for closer ties with neighboring Romania, say only a new election can resolve the dispute over what they say are rigged results.
"We call for a new election to be held. And we will win it," Serafim Urecheanu of Our Moldova, one of three opposition parties to win seats in Sunday's election, told a rally after a truce was established between protesters and police.
Voronin has overseen stability and growth since 2001, but he has been unable to resolve an 18-year-old separatist rebellion in the Russian-speaking region Transdniestria, where Russia has had troops since Soviet times.
He cannot stand for a third consecutive term but has made it plain that he wants to retain the levers of power. Analysts say he could try to take on another influential role such as parliamentary speaker.
The election polarized Moldova between mostly older and rural voters, who see the Communists as a guarantor of stability, and those who identify with pro-Western liberal parties that broadly call for closer ties with Romania.
Moldova is one of six former Soviet states with which the EU is due to launch a new program of enhanced ties at a summit in Prague next month. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called on all sides to show restraint.
(Additional reporting by Sabina Zawadzki and by Dmitry Solovyov writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan)
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