Bolivian President Evo Morales has resigned, caving in after three weeks of sometimes violent protests over his disputed re-election.
“I resign my post as president,” Morales said on Sunday in a televised address, capping a day of fast-moving events in which many ministers and senior officials quit as support for Latin America’s longest-serving president crumbled, and created a temporary leadership vacuum in the country.
The streets of La Paz immediately exploded in celebration, with jubilant Bolivians waving the national flag, but violence and vandalism later erupted overnight and in the neighboring city of El Alto.
Photo: AFP
In the confusion, a group of 20 lawmakers and government officials took refuge at the Mexican ambassador’s residence, and Mexico announced it was offering asylum to Morales as well.
Morales later tweeted that there was a warrant for his arrest, but Bolivian Police Commander General Vladimir Yuri Calderon told local Unitel television that was not the case.
Police on Sunday night announced that they had arrested Maria Eugenia Choque, the head of the nation’s electoral court, an institution slammed by the opposition as biased.
Morales gained a controversial fourth term when he was declared the winner of the Oct. 20 presidential election by a narrow margin.
However, the opposition said there was fraud in the vote count and three weeks of street protests ensued, during which three people died and hundreds were injured.
The Organization of American States carried out an audit of the election and on Sunday reported irregularities in just about every aspect that it examined: the technology used, the chain of custody of ballots, the integrity of the count and statistical projections.
As chanting Bolivians kept up the street protests, Morales called new elections, but this was not enough to calm the uproar.
The commanders of the armed forces and the police joined the calls for the president’s resignation.
A raft of ministerial resignations followed Morales’ announcement and raised the question of who was in charge. His vice president, Alvaro Garcia Linera, also said he would quit, and the head of the Senate, Adriana Salvatierra, resigned.
Second Vice President of the Senate Jeanine Anex said she would assume the interim presidency of Bolivia.
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