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By Matt Robinson

SKOPJE, June 16 (Reuters) - A partial re-run of Macedonia's parliamentary election was free of violence but tensions and intimidation meant it still did not meet some key standards, international monitors said on Monday.

Police secured polling stations in ethnic Albanian areas on Sunday to prevent a repeat of the fraud and shootings that marred a June 1 vote and cast doubt on whether the European Union would open accession talks with Macedonia this year.

The monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe welcomed a "considerable improvement" in the security situation, but added that "cases of tensions and intimidation remained evident in the run-up to and on June 15."

They noted procedural errors and violations, five cases of ballot stuffing, and said voting in four polling stations had been cancelled altogether.

"More needs to be done by the state institutions to hold accountable those responsible for violence and election related offenses, including the removal of party activists from senior police functions," said Ambassador Robert Barry, head of the OSCE/ODIHR long-term election observation mission.

"Otherwise the culture of impunity which prevails in the ethnically Albanian areas will continue, and an overwhelming police presence will be required to prevent a repeat of the events of 1 June in future elections."

The results of the re-run, involving around 10 percent of Macedonia's population of two million, cannot alter the overwhelming victory of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's conservative VMRO-DPMNE.

But the violence two weeks ago showed how poverty and slow EU progress -- hamstrung by a 19-year dispute with Greece -- still fuel tensions seven years after an Albanian guerrilla insurgency tipped Macedonia to the brink of civil war.

Macedonia's 25 percent Albanian minority is split between two rival parties vying for control of the north and west of the country, and a place in Gruevski's future government.

His partner in the outgoing coalition, the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), has been compromised by reports of violence and fraud targeting their competitors, the more popular Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).

The monitors' report supported the DUI's complaints. Barry specifically named deputy Interior Minister Refet Elmazi and regional police chief Faik Dervisi as examples of "senior police officials who are also party activists" and could not carry out independent investigations and trials.

Initial results of the re-run looked set to confirm the DUI as the strongest party among the ethnic Albanian community. (Writing by Ellie Tzortzi; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

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