Bolivian senator Jeanine Áñez declares herself interim president

A Bolivian lawmaker declared herself interim president Tuesday, amid a power vacuum left by the ousting of leader Evo Morales.

Senator Jeanine Áñez, 52, stepped forward before the assembly to claim the presidency of the South American country, the BBC reported.

“I assume the presidency immediately and will do everything necessary to pacify the country,” she said.

Earlier Tuesday, Áñez, the deputy senate leader, assumed leadership of the senate and then said she was next in line for the position of president under the constitution.

She vowed to hold elections soon.

Lawmakers from Morales’ party boycotted the session, so there was no quorum to appoint Áñez.

Morales — who earlier on Tuesday arrived in Mexico after being granted political asylum there — denounced the move as illegitimate on Twitter.

“The sneakiest, most nefarious coup in history has been consummated,” he wrote, blasting Áñez as “a coup-mongering right-wing senator.”

Morales, 60, the first indigenous Bolivian to hold the office of president, served for 14 years before his resignation on Sunday, under pressure from the Bolivian military and in the midst of weeks of violent protests over his controversial re-election last month.

He accused the Bolivian military of staging a coup against him and said he fled his country for Mexico because he came to fear for his life and the lives of his family.