Bolivia: Rodriguez sets election date

LA PAZ, Bolivia, July 7 (UPI) -- Bolivian President Eduardo Rodriguez has set a date for presidential elections at the end of the year.

The decision by Rodriguez to call for election on Dec. 4 mirrors the one made by Bolivia's lower and upper houses of legislature, La Razon newspaper reported Thursday.

Elections were scheduled for August 2007. However widespread protests last month prompted President Carlos Mesa to step down.

Congress then appointed Rodriguez -- former president of the Supreme Court -- the country's next leader. It was then that the interim president first announced he would move up elections.

Protesters were increasingly unhappy with Bolivia's handling of its lucrative gas reserves and called for the nationalization of foreign gas companies.