Indonesian President B.J. Habibie pulled out of the country's presidential race hours ahead of elections to choose a new leader.
Bowing to a last minute no-confidence vote, Mr Habibie was to formally announce he was dropping his attempt to win a second term in office later in the day, national assembly chairman Mr Amien Rais said after meeting Mr Habibie.
"Later this morning, Habibie will announce that he will not go on (in the race) and I am fully in support of that," he said.
The move came hours after the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) - Indonesia's highest legislative body which will elect a new president later today - rejected Mr Habibie's account of his performance during 17 months in power.
Flexing new-found democratic muscle after more than three decades dominated by the regime of Habibie's mentor Suharto, the assembly narrowly rejected the president's report by 355 to 322.
The assembly also ratified the results of East Timor's independence vote, clearing the way for the territory's freedom from the country that invaded it in 1975. The assembly chairman, Mr Amien Rais, said the historic decree recognising the August 30th vote was cleared by representatives of all factions of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and was approved by the floor. No vote was taken.
The vote of censure on Mr Habibie was greeted with cheers both from delegates inside the assembly and outside on the streets in the capital Jakarta, where hundreds began premature celebrations to mark what they believed was the ousting of Mr Habibie and the ruling Golkar party.
As well as his association with Suharto's one-party 32-year rule, Mr Habibie's presidency has been dogged by numerous crises, including East Timor's move towards independence, his government's decision to halt a graft probe into Suharto and its failure to deal with an embarrassing banking scandal.
His chances at the presidency took a further serious blow this week when armed forces chief Gen Wiranto on Monday declined an invitation to run as his vice-presidential candidate.
His pullout will now leave two candidates vying for the country's fourth presidency: the opposition's Mrs Megawati Sukarnoputri (53) and moderate Muslim leader Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid (59).
Mr Rais earlier said that his People's Mandate Party (PAN) had held a meeting with the United Development Party (PPP) to push for Mr Gus Dur's candidacy.
"There's no other way than to push Gus Dur to join the race for the residential seat," Mr Rais said. "It is time to put an end to the old practice in which there was only a single candidate."
It was not immediately clear whether Golkar would shift its support to one of the existing candidates or leave it to MPs to vote for their own choice.
The result of the vote on the mandatory "accountability" report delivered last week by Mr Habibie (63) was greeted with high emotions at the assembly building.
Opponents of Mr Habibie wept tears of joy while the gallery erupted in cheers. Some of the president's supporters also broke down on the floor of the assembly after realising they had lost.