Repeat ballot vow, France urges Madagascar leader

PARIS (Reuters) - France expects Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina, who took power in March with army backing, to publicly confirm he will not run in the country's next election, a French foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

Spokesman Frederic Desagneaux reiterated what a French official had told reporters on Tuesday -- that Rajoelina had summoned foreign diplomats and pledged not to stand in the election next year.

Madagascar's government has denied he said any such thing.

"The head of the Transition High Authority, Andry Rajoelina, expressed yesterday in front of the diplomatic corps his intention not to declare himself a candidate in the next general elections," Desagneaux told reporters.

"We expect him to publicly confirm this commitment which, it seems to us, is likely to facilitate the ongoing political negotiations between the Malagasy people," Desagneaux added.

Months of instability in Madagascar, which gained full independence from France in 1960, have devastated its $390 million-a-year tourism sector and caused concern among foreign investors exploring potentially vast oil and mineral reserves.

Regional blocs and foreign powers, including the African Union and South African Development Community, have branded Rajoelina's rise to power a coup d'etat, and several donors including the International Monetary Fund have suspended aid to the world's fourth largest island.

The AU and SADC have called for elections to be held this year. Rajoelina has pledged to hold them in October 2010, but the international community has said that is too late.

The AU said last month all parties had agreed to hold the election by the end of 2009, but the next day the government refused to guarantee that a vote would be held by then.