Mongolian PM declares victory in polls

ULAANBAATAR:

Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene declared victory early Saturday in parliamentary elections, after a contest dominated by deepening public anger over corruption and the state of the economy.

People across the vast, sparsely populated nation of 3.4 million, sandwiched between China and Russia, voted Friday to elect 126 members of the State Great Khural. With 100 percent of votes counted by machine, the prime minister told a press conference in the capital Ulaanbaatar a few hours after polls closed that his ruling Mongolian People’s Party had won a majority of seats.

“According to the pre-results, the Mongolian People’s Party has 68 to 70 seats,” he said.

The vote, he said, represented a “new page” in “democratic debate.”

“This is the peoples’ voice heard in the parliament,” he said.

The votes are also being counted by hand to ensure accuracy, and an official result was expected on Saturday.

If the preliminary results hold, the MPP will see its overall share of parliamentary seats fall, from a supermajority of 79 percent in 2020 to around 54 percent in the new one.