The reason Morales is withdrawing his candidacy is that he wants to avoid the country being hit by civil war or ethnic conflict, he says in an interview with The Guardian.

"In the name of peace, sacrifices must be made, and I sacrifice my candidacy even though I have every right to it," he tells the newspaper.

However, a new law passed by interim president Jeanine Áñez should have stopped a possible candidacy. The law means that candidates who have served during the last two terms of office are not allowed to stand.

Over 30 dead

In the October 20 election, Morales secured a fourth term with barely a margin, prompting his opponents to accuse him of electoral fraud. During the post-election, violent protests have taken place in the country, in which over 30 people have been killed and hundreds injured.

The pressure eventually forced Morales to resign and take refuge in Mexico on November 12.

The conflict is the worst in the country in several years, and has deepened the gaps between the middle and upper classes in the cities and the often Morales-friendly indigenous people in the country, writes TT.

Morales became the first Bolivian president of the indigenous population at the time of his accession in 2006.