Former Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh wins presidency | Election news

With the majority of votes cast, Khurelsukh has an insurmountable advantage over Sodnomzundui Erdene of the opposition Democratic Party.

Former Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh has become the sixth democratically elected president of the country, strengthening the power of the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP).

After protests this year, Khurelsukh was forced to step down as prime minister in the Sodnomzundui Erden of the opposition Democratic Party, which won the majority of votes in the national elections.

He will replace incumbent Khaltmaa Battulga, who was denied the opportunity to run for re-election, following controversial changes to the Mongolian constitution that limited the president to one term.

There are about two million voters in a landless country between China and Russia, where political instability has been a constant problem for young democracy.

The nation adopted its first constitution in 1992, after decades of communist rule.

Khurelsukh’s victory came after a low-key campaign among COVID-19 restrictions. Most of the outside events were canceled on Saturday after Dangaasur’s Enkhbat candidate outside the National Labor Party gave a positive coronavirus.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Mongols lined up surgical masks and mixed traditional clothing, suits and tracksuits under the blue sky, placed in distant rows marked by lines on the ground.

Workers entered the polling stations in protective clothing before voting in front of the Mongolian flag.

Mongolia’s hybrid political system gives the elected parliament the right to appoint the government and decide politics, but the president has the right to veto legislation and hire and dismiss judges.

Being a presidency that is often controlled by the opposition party, the division of power has created a political blockade, which some believe has hindered Mongolia’s development.

Khurelsukh’s election is expected to give the deputy greater control over the levers of power, although he will be forced to resign from his party as soon as he takes office.

The Democratic Party campaigned under the slogan “Mongolia without dictatorship,” and Erden warned that the country was moving toward a one-party state.

A worker in a protective suit takes the temperature of a man’s body at a polling station during the presidential election in Ulan Bator (Mongolia). [B Rentsendorj/Reuters]

It is unclear what the MPP’s consolidation of power will mean for Mongolia’s largest foreign investment project, the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine, led by Rio Tinto, which the Ulaanbaatar government has sought to renegotiate as construction costs rise.

Inequality is a key concern among Mongols, with a poverty rate of 28 percent, according to a recent World Bank survey.

The country is one of the most affected by climate change, which has led to desertification and pollution. Temperatures vary in winter by at least 30 degrees Celsius (22 degrees Fahrenheit) and 30C (86F) in summer.

Traditionally influenced by nomadic cultures, more than two-thirds of the population now live in cities.