Senator proclaimed Bolivia interim president

Security forces patrol the streets of La Paz, on 12 November 2019 after Jeanine Anez, a deputy speaker of the Senate, proclaimed herself Bolivia's new interim president during a session of Congress that failed to reach a quorum. (AFP)

Bolivia’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday endorsed Jeanine Anez as the country’s interim president, filling a power vacuum left by the resignation of Evo Morales.

A statement from the court endorsed the 52-year-old Anez, a deputy speaker of the Senate, after a Congress session called to confirm her failed to reach a quorum.

The court, citing a 2001 constitutional declaration, said “the functioning of the executive should not be suspended” so that the next-in-line of succession assumes the presidency “ipso-facto.”

Morales condemned what he called “the sneakiest, most nefarious coup in history” after Anez proclaimed herself the country’s new interim president.

Tweeting from exile in Mexico, where he fled after resigning Sunday, Morales called Anez “a coup-mongering right-wing senator.”

Anez has moved to take over the presidency after Morales, his vice president and the leaders of both houses of Congress resigned, leaving the crisis-torn country in a power vacuum.

She proclaimed herself interim president after a congressional session that failed to reach a quorum, saying she planned to call new elections as soon as possible.

Morales said she had “declared herself… interim president without a legislative quorum, surrounded by a group of accomplices and backed by the armed forces and police that repress the people.”

Morales, 60, resigned after losing the backing of the security forces following weeks of unrest over his fraud-stained re-election to a controversial fourth term on 20 October.

He said Mexico “saved my life” as he arrived in the country earlier Tuesday aboard a Mexican air force plane, but vowed to make a political come-back, saying “the struggle continues.”

Mexican authorities have not given details on his whereabouts for safety reasons.