A Bolivian opposition senator took office as interim president on Tuesday, hoping to fill a power vacuum created by the resignation of socialist former leader Evo Morales, who has fled to Mexico after allegations of election fraud.
Jeanine Añez of the opposition Democratic Union party described her move as “a constitutional succession” triggered by “the definitive absence of the president and vice-president” and her position as deputy head of the senate. Amid the continued violence, she added she would “take all necessary measures to pacify the country”, and would call elections as soon as possible.
However, Ms Añez and her supporters lacked the necessary congressional quorum for the move after a defiant Mr Morales arrived in exile in Mexico and ordered his MAS party lawmakers, who hold a majority in the chamber, to boycott the session. The Bolivian constitutional court issued a statement supporting Ms Añez’s move.
The crisis was triggered by Mr Morales’s resignation on Sunday after he lost the confidence of the main union federation, the Catholic church and the armed forces in the wake of the controversy over last month’s election. His vice-president and the head of the Senate, who were constitutionally next in line, resigned at the same time.
Read also: Jamie Dimon says ‘greedy’ bankers ‘let the American people down’
Mr Morales denounced the opposition move from Mexico City, where he has been granted political asylum, as “the most deceitful and nefarious coup in history” and vowed continued resistance.
His words drew a sharp rebuke from Luis Almagro, secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS), who said: “The ones who carried out a coup are those who committed fraud and said they won in the first round” of the election, referring to Mr Morales and his supporters. In Washington, a senior Trump administration official described Mr Morales’s departure as “a positive step to begin calming the situation on the ground in Bolivia”.
Bolivians were less sure. Some people took to the streets cheering and waving national flags on Tuesday night after Ms Añez claimed the presidency. Furious supporters of Mr Morales responded by trying to force their way to the Congress building in La Paz, yelling: “She must quit!”
The OAS, supported by the EU, said that serious and widespread irregularities had marred the result of the October 20 election to such an extent that a fresh vote was required.
Ms Añez said her aim was to pacify the country and to hold fresh elections within 90 days amid calls from the OAS “to ensure the functioning of institutions and to name new electoral authorities to guarantee a new electoral process”.
This will be a serious challenge, given the levels of violence that have plagued the country for the past three weeks, and the depth of its political divisions. Video footage on Tuesday showed police battling supporters of Mr Morales in the city of Cochabamba and masked protesters calling for civil war.
Earlier on Tuesday, pro-Morales protesters gathered outside the assembly building in central La Paz following days of violent unrest that left at least seven people dead. Mr Morales accused opposition leaders Carlos Mesa and Luis Fernando Camacho and their followers of burning the houses of his supporters and ransacking his own house in Cochabamba, in central Bolivia.
Supporters of the opposition have also denounced widespread acts of violence, including physical attacks and the burning of homes, which they say have been committed by Mr Morales’s supporters.
Mr Morales’s abrupt departure threatens to return Bolivia to the divisions and volatile political history that had prevailed until his rise to power as the country’s first indigenous leader almost 14 years ago. Support from peasant farmers, trade unions and urban migrants delivered Mr Morales three sweeping presidential victories, but his legitimacy was eroded by concerns about his lack of respect for democracy, increasing authoritarianism and slowing growth.
Opposition lawmakers have told the Financial Times that the future looks troublesome. The opposition is led by two figures with sharply different styles and personalities: Mr Mesa, a sober historian and former president who was Mr Morales’s closest rival in the election, and Mr Camacho, a firebrand Christian conservative leader of the civic committee of Santa Cruz, who did not take part in the October election, but has gained prominence since.
“The country, long divided along economic and social lines and with a long history of violent instability, is a tinderbox . . . [and] a violent denouement in coming weeks is very likely,” wrote Eileen Gavin, a Latin America analyst with the risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft.
Latin American governments are deeply divided regarding events in Bolivia — with leftwing governments such as Venezuela and the incoming one in Argentina having denounced a “coup”, while Brazil and the outgoing Argentine administration have rejected the term and praised Bolivia for following constitutional order.
