Evo Morales, the Bolivian president, has agreed to hold new elections after a damning report from the Organization of American States (OAS) found serious irregularities in the 20 October election won by the leftist leader.

That Morales’s victory sparked widespread protests around the country.

According to the OAS report, the October vote should be annulled because of “clear manipulations” found in the voting system.

Morales, speaking at a press conference in La Paz, also said he would replace the country’s electoral body, which has come under heavy criticism after an unexplained halt to the vote count sparked widespread allegations of fraud, prompting the OAS audit.

Morales, who came to power in 2006 as Bolivia’s first indigenous leader, has defended his election win but said he would adhere to the findings of the OAS audit.

The weeks-long standoff over the disputed election escalated over the weekend as police forces joined anti-government protests and the military said it would not “confront the people”.

“The manipulations to the computer systems are of such magnitude that they must be deeply investigated by the Bolivian state to get to the bottom of and assign responsibility in this serious case,” the preliminary OAS report said.

“The first round of the elections held on 20 October must be annulled and the electoral process must begin again,” the OAS added.

Voting should take place as soon as the necessary conditions are in place, including a newly composed electoral body, the OAS said.

he regional forum added that it was statistically “unlikely” that Morales had secured the 10 percentage point margin of victory needed for outright victory.

Morales was declared the outright winner of the election with a lead of just over 10 points over his rival Carlos Mesa, enabling him to avoid a riskier second round run-off.

The ensuing protests erupted after a nearly 24-hour halt of the vote count.