Mongolia Preliminary results: Mongolian People's Party wins election
According to preliminary results, the Mongolian People's Party (MVP) has won the parliamentary elections in Mongolia, but has lost part of its overwhelming majority. After almost all votes had been counted, the previously undisputed party won 68 of the 126 seats in the Grand State Chural and thus only secured a narrow majority, as Mongolian media reported on Saturday. The previous Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene declared his MVP the winner of the election. In the previous election, the party had won 62 seats in the then 76-seat parliament.
29.06.2024, 13:10
SDA
In this ninth parliamentary election since the democratic transition in 1990, the opposition made significant gains. Observers sometimes interpreted this as the population's desire for change. According to preliminary results, the center-right Democratic Party won 42 seats. The Hun Party won eight seats. Two other splinter parties shared the remaining eight seats.
Election observers criticize fairness
According to the electoral commission, voter turnout was around 69 percent. The official election results will be presented within 14 days, reported the state news agency Montsame. Just over two million people in the country, which is surrounded by Russia and China, were called to vote.
Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) assessed the election process positively. However, the organization criticized unequal conditions of competition to the advantage of the MVP, as stated in a press release. In contrast, the observers praised the fact that the increase in seats led to more plurality and women in parliament.
The area of resource-rich Mongolia is more than four times the size of Germany, although the country only has a population of around 3.4 million. The former socialist People's Republic voted using a different electoral system. 48 seats were allocated via a party list and 78 seats via a direct election. The Grand State Chural in the capital Ulan Bator grew from 76 to 126 parliamentary seats.
Mongolia dependent on its neighbors
Mongolia is considered an important democratic buffer between the two autocratic countries of China and Russia. Ulan Bator has long tried to maintain a balanced relationship with its neighbors, on whom Mongolia is very dependent. Almost all of its petroleum products come from Russia, for example, and more than 90 percent of Mongolia's total exports go to China, especially coal. Domestically, Mongolia, where many people still live as nomads, is struggling with corruption in politics, which is why the population's trust is increasingly declining.
