(SKOPJE) - Macedonians voted Sunday in an election marred by a deadly shootout and reports of intimidation that saw polling suspended in some areas and drew expressions of concern from the European Union.

The parliamentary polls -- Macedonia's fifth since independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 -- were seen as a test of the landlocked Balkan state's democratic credentials and of its ambitions to join the EU and NATO.

Police said one person was killed and two others wounded after gunfire erupted when they were called to resolve a polling dispute in an ethnic Albanian village north of the capital Skopje.

The electoral commission halted voting at around 20 polling stations around Aracinovo, a stronghold of Albanian rebels who fought government forces in 2001.

Nine people were arrested, police spokesman Ivo Kotevski said, adding that the incident involved activists of the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), which has been in opposition since the last elections in mid-2006.

Another gun battle left two wounded in the northern Cair municipality, and there were reports of stolen and stuffed ballot boxes in other ethnic Albanian populated regions.

The EU's executive arm, the European Commission, said it was "very concerned" by the violence and called for "calm and restraint," while EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana demanded that polling be repeated in any affected areas.

The Macedonian government, while noting that the tainted polling stations catered to just one percent of the 1.7 million electorate, vowed that voting would be re-run wherever "violence, ballot rigging or other irregularities took place."

"It doesn't matter at all how much effort or resources will be needed. We will make sure it is all done properly, legally and, of course, with international monitoring," said government spokesman Ivica Bocevski .

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski called the snap polls in the hope of securing an absolute majority for his conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, after his fragile coalition was shaken by a failed bid to enter NATO.

Erwan Fouere, the EU envoy in Macedonia, said the incidents were "deeply disturbing" and stressed "violence and intimidation have no place" in a democratic society.

Some 13,000 police had been deployed to implement what Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska had vowed would be a policy of "zero tolerance" during polling.

In a bitter campaign, DUI leaders accused their fierce rivals, the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), of responsibility for attacks on its offices and an "assassination" attempt on its leader Ali Ahmeti.

The elections were held amid uncertainty over Macedonia's integration with the European Union and NATO after Greece vetoed an invitation for it to join the transatlantic alliance in April.

Athens made the move because of a long-running row over the right to the name Macedonia, which is shared by a Greek province. In international forums, Macedonia goes by the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

A month earlier, the DPA had withdrawn its support for the Gruevski government in protest at its slowness in recognising the independence of neighbouring Kosovo.

Surveys predict a solid win for the VMRO-DPMNE, ahead of the main opposition Social Democratic Union headed by Radmila Sekerinska, and the two main ethnic Albanian parties.

But Gruevski is again likely to need the support of Albanian parties to cobble together a government after the polls, which are being closely watched by more than 6,200 monitors.

Macedonia won EU candidate status in 2005. However, political turmoil, Albanian tensions and corruption have meant the 27-nation bloc has yet to set a date for the start of membership talks.

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