Marc Ravalomanana

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have again taken to the streets of Madagascar's capital on the third day of a general strike to protest the outcome of last month's presidential election. The main airport and many businesses remained closed as protesters filled Antananarivo's May 13 Square, waving banners expressing support for opposition candidate Marc Ravalomanana.

Mr. Ravalomanana, who is also Mayor of Antananarivo, says he won a December's election outright and has demanded the resignation of the government.

He has rejected a Constitutional Court ruling that ordered a run-off vote and accused election authorities of rigging the balloting in favor of President Didier Ratsiraka.

On Tuesday demonstrators demanded that state-run media grant equal air time to Mr. Ravalomana. Reuters news agency reports that state television, TVM, went to report from the scene of the demonstration Wednesday for the first time since protests began early this month.

The U.N. Security Council has expressed concern over the unrest and called on both candidates to comply with all constitutional, electoral and legal requirements in a second round election. The Council said on Tuesday that the elections should be conducted in - what it called - a free, fair and transparent manner in the presence of international observers.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.

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