Bolivia's Supreme Court President Eduardo Rodriguez was sworn in as the country's new president late Thursday night after Congress unanimously accepted the resignation of his embattled predecessor Carlos Mesa in an emergency session.

Rodriguez was given the job after both Senate leader Hormando Vaca Diez and House leader Mario Cossio refused to accept the post in succession, said reports from Sucre, the constitutional capital of Bolivia.

Under constitution, new elections must be held within the next six months under current circumstances.

However, in his inauguration speech, Rodriguez did not set a date for early elections, but said: "one of my tasks will be to call an electoral process to renew and continue building a democratic system that is more just."

Late on Monday, Mesa announced his decision to resign after mass anti-government protesters paralyzed the country for several weeks. Earlier this year, he also offered resignation, but was turned down by Congress.

For the past months, protests and social disorder have frequently hit the South American country, often paralyzing traffic.

The unrest erupted after Congress passed a law on May 17 to levy a 50-percent tax on foreign oil and gas companies operating in Bolivia, which has the second largest gas reserves in South America after Venezuela.

The opposition demands higher taxes on foreign firms and the nationalization of the country's lucrative oil and gas industry.

Demonstrations have escalated into riots since May 24 when demonstrators blocked a downtown square in La Paz, where the executive and legislative branches of government are located, and began to smash windows in buildings and cars in the surrounding streets.

In a bid to halt oil and gas production, hundreds of peasants in the eastern Santa Cruz province have blockaded roads and entrances to four natural gas fields operated by foreign firms.

(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2005)