Bolivia's president offers to quit
(CNN) -- Bolivian President Carlos Mesa says he will submit his resignation to the country's Congress after a week of widespread protests he said were "blocking the country."
In an address on national television, Mesa -- who has held office less than a year and a half -- said he would submit his resignation Monday "so Congress can make a decision" and leave it to lawmakers to work out whether he should quit.
"It is up to your consideration," the political independent said to the Andean nation of eight million, which has seen increasing street protests and a growing frustration with an uncooperative Congress.
Large numbers of his supporters began to gather outside the country's presidential palace in La Paz after the Sunday speech.
Mesa's announcement appeared to be a gambit to bring out popular support for his government and secure a new mandate, said Ronald MacLean, a former Bolivian presidential candidate.
"I think he's playing a very hard game of brinksmanship, and he's playing his strongest card," he said.
It was unlikely that Congress would vote to accept Mesa's resignation, MacLean added.
Mesa's critics and the country's opposition Socialists have been leading demonstrations and strikes in hopes of changing the way the country's oil revenue is distributed.
Protesters have also demanded the cancellation of a contract with a French company to provide water for La Paz, the capital.
Bolivia has long been one of South America's poorest countries and a major recipient of international aid.
It is also the source of up to a third of the world's cocaine, according to U.S. State Department estimates.
Mesa took office in October 2003 when a bloody popular revolt over free-market economic policies forced his predecessor, former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, to flee the country.
The vice president's has remained vacant since he assumed the presidency.
If Bolivia's congress accepts his resignation, the president of Congress, Sen. Hormando Vaca Diez, would become president.
