LIMA -- Peruvians Monday awaited formal confirmation that President Alberto Fujimori would resign, after the president explained to AFP that a bribery scandal involving a former close aide ultimately prompted his decision to step down.
In the fax received here late Sunday from Tokyo, Fujimori acknowledged that the scandal sparked by a video of his former close adviser Vladimiro Montesinos bribing an opposition lawmaker to switch sides, prompted his resignation plans.
"That video, in which there is a repugnant act, makes me think that I should offer a moral response and proof that I am not as interested in power as many people think," Fujimori wrote.
"O.K., this (video) comes out and sullies our image, well then this is as far as it goes. I am calling general elections, and I'm off." The president also said his resignation would end the political uncertainty which could otherwise undermine Peru's economy.
"I want to make perfectly clear that I am not leaving the presidency to satisfy the demands of any particular person, but rather to avoid having our economy -- which has made progress like few others in Latin America in the ten years of my administration -- undermined by a climate of political uncertainty and instability."