The United States on Friday welcomed a move by interim Honduran leader Roberto Micheletti to step down briefly, saying it boosted chances for ending the months-long political showdown.
"We welcome that he's going to take a leave of absence," State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told reporters.
Wood said the announcement will give "some breathing space" for the process aimed at ending the showdown sparked by a June 28 coup as well as "allow the people of Honduras to focus on the elections," set for November 29.
In the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, Micheletti said Thursday that he expected to be absent from public functions from November 25 to December 2, in an apparent bid to boost the international legitimacy of the elections.
The de facto leadership hopes the polls will put an end to a deep crisis set off by the June 28 ouster of President Manuel Zelaya, which has isolated the Central American nation.
"With this measure I aim to concentrate all the attention of Honduran people on the electoral process and not on the political crisis," Micheletti said in a national address.
Zelaya, in comments to Venezuela's Telesur TV channel, immediately rejected the move as a "crude maneuver" that implicitly recognizes that Micheletti's presence in office "stains the electoral process."
Micheletti did not name a replacement but said that the government would function normally during his absence.
Amid high tension in the polarized nation, Micheletti added that if the security situation degenerated, he would immediately return to the de facto leadership.
The United States, the country's main military and economic backer, and Panama have said they will support the vote, but regional powerhouses Brazil and Argentina have indicated they will not recognize the results.
Zelaya, who has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy since his surprise return to the country on September 21, has called on his supporters to boycott the polls after the latest crisis deal failed to return him to office beforehand.
The Honduran Congress and Supreme Court have backed Zelaya's ouster, accusing him of seeking to change the constitution to stay in office beyond the one-term limit.
