Morales Says He'll Return to Bolivia If Resignation Letter Not Supported by Lawmakers

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Bolivia's former president, Evo Morales, who resigned last week amid protests and later fled to Mexico, said he would return to Bolivia if the Plurinational Legislative Assembly, the country’s parliament, did not support his resignation letter.

"My resignation letter is at the assembly. If the assembly does not adopt it, I will return. At the moment, I feel that I am capable of appeasing Bolivia", Morales said in an interview with El Universal on Thursday.

Morales argued that armed violence, underway in Bolivia, could not bring peace to the country.

"Dialogue with the participation of the United Nations, the Catholic Church and mediating countries will bring peace to Bolivia", the ex-president maintained.

Bolivia's former President Evo Morales at a press conference at the Museum of Mexico City

© AP Photo / Marco Ugarte

Morales submitted the letter last Sunday and Jeanine Anez, the deputy speaker of the upper house of the parliament, assumed the interim presidency and appointed an interim cabinet. The constitutional court confirmed that the transition of power to the opposition lawmaker was legal. Still, lawmakers from Morales' part MAS insisted that his resignation should have first been accepted by the parliament. Despite that, the lawmakers have boycotted the parliament sessions dedicated to his resignation.

Morales decided to resign after weeks of protests that followed the 20 October presidential election. The electoral authorities said he had secured his next term in office in the first round, while the opposition insisted that there were irregularities in the vote-counting process. Morales has characterised the transition of power to Anez as a coup.