Bolivian President Evo Morales has announced his resignation, following weeks of violent protest, over a disputed Presidential election that he had claimed he won. The President is stepping down to calm the tension in the country, after the Police and the Military pushed for his resignation on Sunday.
Evo Morales had on Sunday, announced that he was stepping down as President after the Organisation of American States called for a new presidential election, citing irregularities in the October 20 vote.
“I am sending my resignation letter to the Legislative Assembly of Bolivia,” the 60-year-old socialist leader Evo Morales said.
He added: “I ask you to stop attacking the brothers and sisters, stop burning and attacking.”
His previous claim to have won a fourth term last month set off unrest that left three people dead and over 100 injured in clashes between his supporters and opponents.
Earlier in the day Sunday, the Organisation of American States said in a preliminary report it had found a “heap of observed irregularities” in the October 20 election and that a new vote should be held.
He agreed to that ut within hours, military chief general Williams Kaliman made it clear that would not be sufficient.
During the unrest, protesters torched the headquarters of local electoral tribunal offices and set up roadblocks that paralyzed parts of Bolivia.
Pressure on the former president increased ominously on Saturday when police on guard outside Bolivia’s presidential palace abandoned their posts and police retreated to their barracks in at least three cities.
He has been offered asylum by Mexico as he risks a possible arrest after he was pressured to resign by the country’s armed forces.