Mongolia: Former Martial Arts Star Battulga Wins ‘Worst Election in Mongolian History’ | The Wire

Populist former martial arts star and businessman Khaltmaa Battulga has won Mongolia‘s presidential run-off election, according to voter data from the General Election Commission released on Saturday. The poll was seen as a referendum on the government’s economic recovery plans and the role of southern neighbour China in the landlocked but resource-rich country known as the birthplace of Mongol emperor Genghis Khan. Battulga, of the opposition Democratic Party, won with 50.6% of the vote on a 60.9% turnout, giving him the majority needed to overcome his opponent, said parliament speaker Miyeegombo Enkhbold of the ruling Mongolian People’s Party. Election officials are still, however, waiting on a final count of votes from abroad.

Mongolia: Presidential Elections Goes Into Second Runoff Without Decisive Winner | Reuters

There was no outright winner in Mongolia’s presidential election on Monday, forcing the country’s first ever second-round run-off between the two leading candidates, the country’s General Election Committee said on Tuesday. The populist former martial arts star Khaltmaa Battulga of the opposition Democratic Party won the most votes, but failed to secure the majority required, the committee said. He will face ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) candidate Miyeegombo Enkhbold, who came second, in a run-off on July 9, the committee’s chairman Choinzon Tsodnomtseren confirmed at a briefing on Tuesday morning.

Mongolia: Presidential runoff date changed to July 7 | AFP

Mongolia’s first-ever presidential runoff has been brought forward by two days to July 7 due to a traditional sporting festival, the country’s electoral authorities said Thursday. The three candidates in Monday’s first-round poll fell well short of the absolute majority needed to secure the presidency, extending the drama of an election marked by corruption scandals. Former judoka Khaltmaa Battulga of the opposition Democratic Party and speaker of the parliament Mieygombo Enkhbold of the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) were the top two finishers and will contest the runoff. Both parties asked for the date to be brought forward due to the start of the long national Naadam holiday a few days later — Mongolia’s biggest festival featuring wrestling, archery and horse-riding.

Mongolia: Presidential election forced into a second round | Reuters

No candidate has won an outright victory in Mongolia’s presidential election meaning the first ever run-off between two leading candidates will be held next month, the General Election Committee said on Tuesday. A populist former martial arts star Khaltmaa Battulga of the opposition Democratic Party won the most votes in the Monday election, but failed to secure the majority required, the committee said. He will face ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) candidate Miyeegombo Enkhbold, who came second, in a run-off on July 9, the committee’s chairman, Choinzon Tsodnomtseren, told a news briefing.

Mongolia: Candidate cries foul as Mongolia heads toward runoff vote | AFP

The third-place finisher in Mongolia’s presidential vote cried foul and demanded a recount on Tuesday after electoral authorities declared he was narrowly beaten for a spot in next month’s runoff election. The drama capped a campaign marked by corruption scandals plaguing all three candidates that overshadowed voter concerns over unemployment in the debt-laden country wedged between Russia and China. The result of Monday’s vote was put off by several hours until Tuesday morning, angering supporters of Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP). “We should recount it, otherwise we lose our democracy,” Ganbaatar told AFP. “They are violating people’s votes.”

Mongolia: Mongolia votes for new president in divisive election | Deutsche Welle

Mongolians on Monday cast their votes in a divisive presidential election that pits traditional politicians against a feng shui master in the resource-rich nation. Mieygombo Enkhbold of the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) is seen as the favorite to win the election. He’s up against Khaltmaa Battulga from the outgoing president’s Democratic Party, which is currently in opposition in parliament. The election has been viewed as a bellwether for popular support for Enkhbold’s MPP, which swept up 65 seats in the 76-seat unicameral parliament in last year’s parliamentary elections.

Mongolia: Ahead of Presidential Election, Mongolia Corruption Scandal Has a New Twist | The Diplomat

On June 26, Mongolia’s presidential election will take place. It is set to be a controversial one, marked already by corruption, scandal, media censorship, and insurmountable distrust among the constituencies. On May 9, 2017 an audio recording was released to the public. It appeared to be a recording of a 90-minute conversation between the chairman of the Parliament, M. Enkhbold, who is running for president as the candidate of the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP); the chairman of the Office of People’s Committee, Ts. Sandui; and A. Ganbaatar. This audio, allegedly recorded in 2014, preceded Mongolia’s parliamentary elections of June 2016. The recording became famous for discussion of the MPP’s “60 billion tugrik” ($25 million) deal to take bribes to shuffle government positions as part of a plan to empower its party grip.

Mongolia: Ruling party defeated in Mongolian parliament elections | Associated Press

The opposition Mongolian People’s Party has won a decisive victory in parliamentary elections in the landlocked nation where a fall in commodity prices has sent the economy into a sharp decline. The head of the national election commission said Thursday that the MPP won 65 out of 76 seats in the national legislature, formally known as the State Grand Khural. The ruling Democratic Party won just nine seats while independents and smaller parties won two seats. The MPP is the former communist party that ruled Mongolia for 70 years before the country’s transition to democracy and a free market economy after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Under Mongolian law, the majority party in parliament forms a new government and appoints the prime minister and speaker of the legislature.

Mongolia: Long walk to the ballot box for Mongolian nomads | AFP

It took Mongolian nomad Pagvajaviin Shatarbaatar seven days to get to his polling station to vote in Wednesday’s general election — accompanied by more than 2,000 sheep, goats and horses. His family spends the year travelling around the Gobi Desert in search of pasture for their animals, maintaining a way of life largely unchanged for centuries. As the vote approached they were hundreds of kilometers from their polling station in Mandalgovi, the capital of Dundgovi province. So began the slow process of herding their animals north for the summer, following one of Mongolia’s few paved roads. The journey is a difficult one, said Shatarbaatar’s wife Otgontsetseg, but they feel a responsibility to make their voices heard.

Mongolia: Mongolians divided on eve of hotly contested elections | Al Jazeera

Campaigning for national elections on Wednesday has divided Mongolia as a record number of candidates vie for seats in parliament and local councils. While suffering through the worst economic crisis since 2008, 12 different parties and three separate coalitions are jousting for power with the economy and foreign debt repayment topping the list of voter concerns. The General Election Commission of Mongolia said 498 candidates are running for 76 seats in parliament, known as the State Great Khural. An additional 2,288 candidates are attempting to secure local council jobs. Any party or coalition that wins a majority of parliamentary seats forms the government and appoints the prime minister.

Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar Election Commission releases report | Ubpost News

The members of the Ulaanbaatar Election Commission delivered a report on the 2013 Presidential Election to the General Election Commission (GEC). The Chairman of the capital city’s Election Commission, Yo. Gerelchuluun, said, “No conflicts happened during the Election Day of June 26. Some 561,288 capital city residents voted in the election out of 817,154 who registered so voter turnout in Ulaanbaatar was 68.6 percent. Some 305,760 people cast their ballots for candidate Ts.Elbegdorj of the Democratic Party, a total of 217,824 people supported the candidate from the Mongolian People’s Party, former wrestling champion B.Bat-Erdene, and 4,787 electors voted for Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party candidate N.Udval. The ballot papers and the registration materials of the voters received from 368 electoral precincts have already been delivered to the GEC.”

Mongolia: Elbegdorj Re-elected as Mongolia’s President | VoA News

Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia has won a second term, in an election dominated by a debate over the country’s vast mining wealth. Preliminary results Thursday show President Elbegdorj took 50.2 percent of the previous day’s vote, narrowly clearing the 50 percent needed to avoid a run-off. His main challenger, opposition lawmaker and former pro-wrestler Baterdene Badmaanyambuu, received nearly 42 percent. The country’s first female presidential candidate, Health Minister Natsag Udval, came in a distant third place. Elbegdorj is a Harvard-educated former journalist who campaigned on promises of fighting corruption and continuing his policy of using foreign cash to power Mongolia’s rapidly growing economy.

Mongolia: Mongolians go to the polls in presidential election | Deutsche Welle

Polls have opened for the Mongolian presidential election, with surveys suggesting incumbent Tsakhia Elbegdorj will win a second term. All three candidates are promising fairer wealth distribution from a mining boom. Voters in Mongolia went to the polls on Wednesday morning with election campaigning dominated by a national debate over mineral rights. Recent polls indicate that President Elbegdorj will retain the presidency, campaigning on a policy of using foreign cash to drive development. Since he was elected for a first term in 2009, Elbegdorj has also led a drive against corruption.Elbegdorj’s main challenger is likely to be Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) candidate Baterdene Badmaanyambuu, a former champion wrestler. Baterdene – who is particularly popular among rural voters – has portrayed himself as being committed to upholding national unity and has helped to draw up a new environmental protection law amid concern about the ravages of the recent mining boom.

Mongolia: Dominion ImageCast to be used in Mongolian Election | Ubpost News

The 2013 Presidential Election Campaign has officially started on May 22, in which three candidates received their mandates to run for president. They were officially registered by the General Election Commission to run in the 6th Presidential Election in Mongolia. They are Ts.Elbegdorj, the current President of Mongolia, from the Democratic Party; former wrestler, champion B.Bat-Erdene, from the Mongolian People’s Party; and the Minister of Health, N.Udval, from the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party. … The parliamentary meeting held on December 21, 2012 came up with a decision to allow using the automated technique and device, “New ImageCast,” in the operations of voter registration, poll taking, and ballot paper counting. Accordingly, the ballot papers of the Presidential Election will be counted by an automatic device for the first time through Dominion Voting, the company that started providing the world market with election products in 2002. Mongolia introduced its ImageCast electronic voting machine in the Parliamentary Election, conducted last year. According to the local media, the ballot papers of the 2013 Presidential Election will be counted electronically by a machine.

Mongolia: Rivals join forces to govern | Financial Times

Two bitter political rivals in Mongolia have joined forces to form a coalition government that will rule the resource-rich nation for the next four years. The centre-left Democratic party, which won the recent election but fell short of an outright majority in parliament, agreed to form a coalition that includes the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary party, a breakaway party headed by Nambaryn Enkhbayar, the former head of state who is facing trial for corruption. Mongolia’s $10bn economy is one of the fastest-growing in the world and it sits atop vast reserves of copper, coal and gold. Many of those deposits are just starting to be developed, and the government that sits in power for the next four years will play a key role in shaping the direction of mining policies and the development of natural resources that are coveted by Mongolia’s larger neighbours, Russia and China.

Mongolia: 9 parties demand vote recount of Mongolia elections | GlobalPost

Nine political parties in Mongolia, including the ruling Mongolian People’s Party, have signed a petition demanding a vote recount and rejecting as unconstitutional an electronic voting system used for the time in the country’s parliamentary elections on Thursday. The automated system was introduced to ensure Mongolia’s elections were free of corruption, but it has been plagued by technical problems and results that were supposed to be announced hours after polling stations closed two days ago are yet to be made public. According to Al Jazeera, the Mongolian People’s Party and eight smaller parties are calling for a vote recount and for a return to the old way of counting votes by hand.

Mongolia: Democrats beat ruling party in Mongolian election | WQOW

The opposition Democratic Party edged out Mongolia’s ruling party in a tightly contested legislative election that centered on how best to use the wealth generated by the still poor but fast-developing country’s mining boom. It was not yet clear if the Democrats would win an outright majority in the 76-seat parliament. The party won 20 of the 48 seats awarded by outright majority in Thursday’s vote, compared with 15 for the ruling Mongolian People’s Party and fewer seats for two other parties, results released Friday by the General Election Commission showed. Under a new system, the remaining 28 seats are awarded based on the parties’ proportion of the overall vote, giving the Democrats a commanding but not a decisive edge in the new parliament. A coalition government between the major parties or with smaller parties would likely perpetuate slow policy-making and partisan bickering that has characterized Mongolia’s fledgling democracy.

Mongolia: Vote snags as ruling party seeks recount | Fox News

Calls by Mongolia’s ruling party for a recount of votes at some polling stations Friday delayed results in sharply contested legislative elections that centered on how to spread the wealth from the poor but fast-growing country’s mining boom. The Mongolia People’s Party said it asked for the recount because discrepancies turned up in vote totals tabulated by machines and then counted by hand at some polling stations. The request sent political leaders huddling with the General Election Commission, which had been expected to announce the results from Thursday’s voting on Friday morning.

Mongolia: What is at Stake in Mongolia’s Election? | Brookings Institution

Amid important elections and transitions taking place this year in different parts of the world, it is easy to overlook the parliamentary election to be held in Mongolia on June 28. On that day, the country will choose its next government in one of the most consequential elections in its recent history. Consequential because―in a country with a 30 percent poverty level―the new government will be asked to manage the unprecedented revenues expected from its mining wealth in such a way as to benefit the many, not the few. As experiences elsewhere have shown, bad governance and mining wealth have rarely been a good mix for the fortunes of a developing resource-rich country. In the coming years, the challenge for Mongolia’s newly elected leaders and the country as a whole will be to rise to the occasion and not squander the opportunity presented to bring prosperity to its citizens, strengthen the economic underpinning for a sustainable democracy, and consolidate its international status.

Mongolia: Inequality to dominate Mongolia poll | Herald Sun

Mongolians will vote on Thursday to elect a new parliament which will have the task of distributing the spoils of a mining boom that has brought rapid growth but also rising inequality to the resource-rich nation. Mongolia’s economy has exploded in recent years, as a relatively stable political environment has drawn in foreign investors keen to exploit its vast untapped reserves of coal, copper and gold. Foreign investment quadrupled last year to nearly $US5 billion, according to government data, but little of that has trickled down to the poorest of Mongolia’s 2.8 million people. The ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party both say they want to ensure a fairer distribution of wealth in the vast and remote nation, although neither has given any detailed indication of how.

Mongolia: A Crucial Week In Mongolia | Forbes

It appears that President Elbegdorj has gotten his way and former President Enkhbayar will not be able to stand in the parliamentary elections this coming Thursday. Enkhbayar’s appeal to the Constitutional Court will not be heard until tomorrow, a mere two days before the election. At that point, the Constitutional Court will decide whether or not to even accept and review his petition. With the way things have been handled thus far, Enkhbayar will not be a candidate for his Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party. One would think that corrupting the democratic process to this point would be enough, but the current Mongolian government has gone even further. The Sukhhbaatar District Court has ruled that Enkhbayar cannot leave the city until his trial thereby preventing him from campaigning for his party in the countryside, Elbegdorj’s homeland.

Mongolia: Mongolian elections mark key step on democratization road | Vancouver Sun

Depending on whom one believes, Mongolia’s former president Nambaryn Enkhbayar is either a champion of democracy targeted for judicial persecution by an increasingly authoritarian regime or he is a corrupt charlatan whose finely crafted portrayal of martyrdom hoodwinked Washington, the United Nations and the European Union. The evidence suggests the second view is nearer the truth and Mongolia’s Constitutional Court has upheld a General Election Commission ruling that because Enkhbayar, president from 2005 to 2009, is facing five corruption charges, he is not eligible to run in parliamentary elections on June 28. That ruling has stalled and perhaps ended Enkhbayar’s attempts at a political comeback after his defeat in the 2009 presidential election.

Mongolia: Ex-Leader Says Election Decision ‘Illegal’ | The Jakarta Globe

Mongolia’s former leader Nambar Enkhbayar said Tuesday a decision barring him from running in upcoming elections was “illegal”, as his corruption trial was postponed for the third time. Enkhbayar — who had planned to run in parliamentary polls on June 28 before being barred from doing so last week — faces five counts of graft dating back to his time as prime minister and president of the impoverished country. But on Tuesday his first hearing was postponed for the third time after he complained of not having enough time to go over the case files and because his lawyer had left the city. “The election committee denied my application to be a candidate. That was illegal so I gave a letter to the Constitutional Court to reconsider my candidacy for the election,” he told reporters outside court in Ulan Bator.

Mongolia: Former Mongolia President Ineligible for Election | WSJ.com

Former Mongolian President Enkhbayar Nambar said he has been deemed ineligible to stand in this month’s parliamentary elections, in the latest setback to his attempted political comeback at a time when fresh questions are being asked about the nation’s democratic foundations. In an interview Thursday, Mr. Enkhbayar said the General Election Commission of Mongolia informed him it wouldn’t accept his application to participate in the June 28 election due to a pending corruption case against him and after consultation with state prosecutors. Mr. Enkhbayar, who served as president from 2005 until 2009, denies the corruption allegations and said he intends to challenge the commission’s decision. Messages left with the commission weren’t returned.

Mongolia: Corruption Trial of Enkhbayar Postponed | NYTimes.com

As he prepared to go on trial on corruption charges, the former president of Mongolia lay in a wrinkled hospital bed, where he was recovering from a 10-day hunger strike he waged to protest being held in detention by his successor’s government. Gaunt, barefoot and dressed in hospital-issue white pajamas, the former president, Nambaryn Enkhbayar, bore little resemblance to the populist leader who dominated Mongolian politics until he was defeated in 2009 by Tsakhia Elbegdorj, who now runs the country. But even in his apparently frail state, Mr. Enkhbayar angrily dismissed the charges against him in an interview on Wednesday, and criticized the timing of the trial as a ploy to remove him from the political arena just weeks before parliamentary elections. “If this is a political case, let’s do it now,” he said in fluent English. “But if we live in a real democratic country, and this is not just political theater, let’s take more time.”

Mongolia: Democrats quit coalition ahead of poll | Associated Press

The Democratic Party of Mongolia announced Thursday that it plans to quit the governing coalition, in maneuvering ahead of elections likely to center on how the poor country can better distribute wealth from a recent mining boom. The Democratic Party’s withdrawal, if finalized, still leaves the dominant Mongolian People’s Party with a majority in parliament, so the move is unlikely to affect the workings of the government. But it presages bruising elections for parliament and local councils in June.