CHISINAU, Moldova — Residents of Moldova, Europe's poorest country, head to the polls today to elect the tiny country's new Parliament in a race that could determine whether the nation leans toward Russia or the West.

The election holds significance not only for Moldova's 3.4 million residents, who live in a nation beset by poverty and corruption, but also for Russia's government, which has all but severed contact with Vladimir Voronin, the Communist president the Kremlin regards as a traitor.

The governing Communist Party, which came to power in 2001 on a platform of strengthening relations with the Kremlin, is now only nominally Communist.

It has opposed political meddling by Moscow and has advocated privatization and integration into Europe. As Voronin has sparred with the Kremlin, Russia's Duma, the lower house of Parliament, has threatened economic sanctions as well as an end of discounted fuel sales to Moldova.

It also has threatened to impose a requirement for visas, which could cut the earning potential of the tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of Moldovan migrants who work in Russia.

Moreover, the election-day conduct of Voronin's government, which the West has criticized for undemocratic behavior during the campaign, could also shape the perception of Moldova in the United States and Europe.

The United States has been nudging the struggling country toward liberalization but warily watching its leadership backslide in some ways.

Opposition leaders insist that electoral abuses could set off widespread unrest.

"It may happen very spontaneously," said Serafim Urechean, a principal opposition leader and the mayor of Chisinau, Moldova's capital.

Diplomats and election observers say they do not anticipate the wide-scale ballot-stuffing and multiple voting that tainted the election last year in Ukraine. But they have criticized Voronin's government for manipulating media coverage, using the police to intimidate the opposition and abusing state resources to advance his campaign.

Opposition groups, which until the government relented about a week ago had almost no access to television coverage, have stridently complained.

"The Communist Party destroyed all the prerequisites of democracy in Moldova," said Urechean, the mayor, who also leads the Democratic Bloc of Moldova, a coalition of several smaller parties that together hope to capture a parliamentary majority.

No party appears strong enough to win the 61 seats, in a 101-seat Parliament, that would be required to elect a new president, Western diplomats said.