“We have to let the Mexican government know that cannot be happening,” said Añez, who says she wants to restore stability in Bolivia but has been accused of a power grab by Morales supporters.

Jeanine Añez, a Senate deputy leader who claimed the interim presidency, also criticized Mexico’s government for allowing Morales to rally support from asylum in Mexico City.

LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales cannot run as a candidate in any new elections, but his political party can, the country’s interim leader said Thursday.

In a country gripped by turmoil, it was unclear whether election officials would have to formally bar Morales from running in a new election.


Bolivia’s first indigenous president resigned on Sunday at military prompting following massive nationwide protests over alleged fraud in an Oct. 20 election in which he claimed to have won a fourth term in office. An Organization of American States audit of the vote found widespread irregularities.

Much of the opposition to Morales sprang from his refusal to accept a referendum that would have forbidden him from running for a new term.

The pro-Morales Movement Toward Socialism party “has all the right to participate in elections; they can look for candidates,” Añez said.

But she said Morales and Álvaro García Linera, the former vice president who also resigned, cannot participate, she said.

Bolivia’s new interim government has begun winning some international recognition but faced challenges to its legitimacy at home.

Mexico welcomed Morales this week after he resigned. Mexico’s government referred to the ouster as a coup d’etat, as have other left-leaning administrations in Latin America. But Añez has gained recognition from other regional governments, including Brazil, Guatemala, and Colombia, as well as the United States and United Kingdom.

Añez also announced she would recognize Venezuela’s US-backed opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, as that country’s legitimate leader, joining the United States and 50 other countries in repudiating socialist President Nicolás Maduro, an ally of Morales.


But members of the new Bolivian leadership were focused on challenges continuing at home.

Members of the Movement Toward Socialism party, who dominate both houses of Congress, began holding legislative sessions Wednesday aimed at questioning the legitimacy of Añez, who had been no higher than fifth in the line of succession before Morales resigned. She won recognition because those above her, all Morales backers, also announced their resignations — though some later tried to recant their resignations.

Violent clashes erupted between Morales loyalists and police in Bolivia’s capital on Wednesday. His supporters also flooded into the streets of La Paz’s sister city of El Alto, a Morales stronghold, waving the multicolored indigenous flag and chanting, “Now, civil war!”

Barricades blocked some streets into El Alto on Thursday.

The unrest is a key part of the challenges facing Añez, a second-tier lawmaker before she thrust herself into the presidency, citing the power vacuum created by Morales’s departure.

She needs to win recognition, stabilize the nation, and organize new elections within 90 days, rebuilding after weeks of violent protests against Morales following the disputed election.