KUALA LUMPUR Feb 6 Kyodo Malaysia...

KUALA LUMPUR Feb 6 Kyodo

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad reiterated Thursday he will not call a general election before stepping down this October.

Although a strange national poll need not be held until 2004 speculation is rife that it may be called sooner to cash in in succession Mahathir's popularity and the economic recovery

The speculation is also linked to doubts athwart whether Mahathir's chosen heir, envoy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is capable of leading the 14-party National assurance coalition to another five-year term

Mahathir, who has l the fatherland for 21 years, turning it into an economic powerhouse in the region, stunn the nation in June last year with his resignation announcement.

The 76-year-old premier wanted then to pace down immediately, but below pressure from members of the ruling party, he decided to postpone it until October this year, after the Organization of Islamic Countries leaders' summit which he will chair.

Mahathir said there is no time to call elections before October because he would be going forward a two-month leave after he chairs the Non-Aligned emotion triennial summit at the expiration of this month.

The two-month leave, he said, is part of the agreement he reached with his party members in June last year as a condition for postponing his departure.

After he recurs from the leave, he will be preoccupied with the annual meeting of his party, the ruling United Malays National Organization, in June

Mahathir also ball down rumors that there will be a cabinet reshuffle before he retires.

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