A former premier from the party that ruled Mongolia under communism won its presidential election after promising to attract more foreign investment in efforts to end chronic poverty in this former Soviet satellite, the government said yesterday.
Nambariin Enkhbayar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) received 53 percent of the 927,586 votes cast on Sunday at polling stations across this vast, sparsely populated country, said J. Yadamsuren, chairman of the Federal Election Commission.
Enkhbayar supporters expressed hope that his experience in government would help to restore prosperity in this Buddhist nation of 2.5 million people. Opponents accused them of ignoring the MPRP's history of repression.
PHOTO: AP
Enkhbayar's main rival, Mendsaikhanin Enkhsaikhan of the Democratic Party, received 20 percent of the vote, while two other candidates got 14 percent and 11 percent, Yadamsuren said at a press conference.
Yesterday morning, Enkhbayar appeared with Prime Minister Tsakhilganin Elbegdorj, a Democrat, at a prayer ceremony led by Mongolia's chief Buddhist monk at the Ganden Monastery in Ulan Bator but didn't address the worshippers.
The MPRP, which allowed multiparty democracy in 1990 following public demonstrations, has recast itself as a social-democratic party.
The voting on Sunday followed elections last year that split control of parliament between the MPRP and the Democrats, forcing them into a coalition government.
"I am confident that the new president will work with us very well," Elbegdorj told the newspaper Today.
Mongolia has a parliamentary system, with a government run by a prime minister -- a post previously held by Enkhbayar. But frequent changes of government have made the once-ceremonial presidency more important. The president can veto legislation and appoint judges and generals.
"I voted for him [Enkhbayar] because he has done many things in the past for Mongolia," said Yarinpil Chimeddorj, 57, an unemployed former salesman. "Since I was young, I was always taught by the party, so I have a lot of respect for the MPRP."
But opponents complained that MPRP supporters ignored the party's long history of repression.
"Mongolia is cowering again under the dark cloud of suffering and misery. The dictator is now in power," said Namsrain Gombojav, a 78-year-old retired construction worker and Democratic Party supporter who waited outside the election commission office to hear the results.
The election was "fairly organized," said Gombojav. "But our people are very ignorant. The majority of Mongolian people are brainwashed by the party in power for 70 years."
The MPRP was voted out in 1996 but re-elected to power in 2000. The MPRP's rivals complained that the party still dominates election bodies that register voters and run polling stations. Foreign observers visited polling stations on Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of misconduct.
Turnout was 75 percent, lower than usual, said Luvsandendeviin Sumati, an independent pollster for the Sant Maral Foundation.
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