Opposition alleges fraud in Mongolia vote
Reuters UK reports that,
ULAN BATOR, July 1 (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters marched in Mongolia’s capital on Tuesday alleging fraud in a weekend election, and the leader of the opposition Democratic Party said he would not accept the projected outcome.
Mongolia’s election committee has yet to give the final result of Sunday’s vote, but the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) is believed to have won about 43 seats in the 76-seat parliament, or Great Hural, giving it a clear majority.
“We do not accept these results,” Democratic Party leader Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj told a news conference. “No one needs these kinds of results, and they will be corrected in accordance with law.”
International observers say that overall the election, in a country of vast grasslands and deserts that is a rare example of democracy in Central Asia, was free and fair.
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Ex-communists ‘win’ Mongolia poll
Aljazeera.net writes that,
Mongolia’s former communists have claimed the majority of seats in the nation’s parliament, leaving them poised to end four years of coalition government with their political rivals.
The Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) announced on Monday that it had won 44 seats out of the 76 in the Grand Khural, or parliament.
To gain a majority in the Great Khural a party needs to win at least 39 seats.
Sanjagiin Bayar, the MPRP leader and Mongolia’s prime minister, said: “We can’t give the complete election results yet, but the election did go well for us”.
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Dead heat in Mongolia vote count
CBC News of Canada reports that,
Close result could delay large mining project led by Canadians
People in Mongolia faced uncertainty Monday after a weekend general election gave neither of the country’s main political parties a clear lead and raised concern about delays to efforts by Canadian and other international mining companies to tap the country’s vast mineral wealth.
Partial results from Sunday’s voting put the incumbent Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party [MPRP] and the opposition Democratic Party in a dead heat, local media reported.
But vote counting in the capital, Ulan Bator, was proceeding slowly and opposition supporters said the city is their main power base and they were confident of a strong showing.
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Mongolia election boost for mining
Financial Times writes that,
By Mure Dickie in Beijing
Mongolia’s ruling party yesterday claimed victory in parliamentary elections expected to open the way for long-awaited agreement on how to handle billions of dollars of foreign investment in the country’s mining sector.
The Mongolian People’s Revolutionary party said it had won 38 seats from rural constituencies, enough to secure a clear majority in the 76-member unicameral parliament, the State Great Hural.
With the MPRP expected to claim more seats from constituencies in the capital Ulan Bator, where votes were still being counted, the result appeared set to markedly strengthen the ruling party’s position.
Mongolia’s last parliamentary election in 2004 gave only the narrowest of parliamentary majorities to the MPRP, a former communist party that has governed the country for all but four of the last 87 years.
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Ivanhoe Mines stock soars on Mongolia mine optimism
Reuters Canada reports that,
TORONTO (Reuters) - Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO: Quote) shares surged 9 percent on Monday as signs that Mongolian voters will elect a majority government raised expectations Ivanhoe would soon conclude a deal to develop the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine.
Canada-based Ivanhoe and its partner Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote) agreed to a draft investment agreement last year that would give the government a 34 percent stake in Oyu Tolgoi and clear the way for development of the mine.
But the deal was withdrawn earlier this year by the government amid opposition from small populist parties in the coalition government.
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SouthGobi Energy stock stoked by thick, shallow coal seams in Mongolia
Canadianpress writes that,
VANCOUVER — SouthGobi Energy Resources Ltd. shares (TSXV:SGQ) rose to a new high Monday after the company reported “multiple, thick, near-surface coking and thermal coal seams” at a site 16 kilometres east of its Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in southern Mongolia.
The new find includes an intercept 51.5 metres thick, and the Vancouver-headquartered company has renamed the discovery, previously called the Alphabet fields, the Sumber coal project, a name which it said was suggested by a Mongolian lama and means “beginning of the universe.”
Its stock, priced at barely $5 late last year, jumped by $3.51 or 19 per cent to $21.99 at midmorning on the TSX Venture Exchange.
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Mongolia ruling party wins election
The Associated Press reports that,
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia (AP) — Mongolia’s ruling party won a tough parliamentary election contested over how to share more of the country’s natural wealth, according to preliminary results Monday.
The ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party — which also governed the country when it was a Soviet satellite — won 41 seats in Sunday’s vote, said Battulga Bataa, chairman of the General Election Commission.
That would give the party more than half of the 76 seats in parliament, called the State Great Khural.
“Currently, counting of votes from rural areas is finished in principle. Our election committees are still counting votes from Ulaanbaatar and other urban areas,” Battulga said.
Final election results were not expected until Tuesday. Preliminary results showed the Mongolian Democratic Party taking 25 seats and independents winning one seat.
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Mongolians vote in key elections
Presstv of Iran reports that,
Parliamentary elections begin in Mongolia, where fighting inflation and tapping into the country’s huge mineral wealth are major concerns.
Mongolian voters dressed in traditional silk cloaks tied with colorful sashes streamed into polling stations Sunday as the nation began the first general election in four years.
A total of 356 candidates, including 28 incumbent members of parliament, are fighting for 76 seats in the Great Hural.
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Polls close in Mongolia as mining deals eyed
The US Daily writes that,
ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - Mongolians turned out in droves on Sunday to vote in a tight race that will see the election of a government charged with fighting inflation and tapping into the windswept country’s huge mineral wealth.
Polls closed at 1400 GMT, but results in the vote that pits the ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) against the Democratic Party were not expected until Monday at the earliest.
Many voters expressed a desire to see a more stable government, and Mongolia’s Election Commission said judging from early returns, voter turnout was expected to surpass the 82 percent who voted in 2004.
The last election four years ago resulted in a hung parliament, leaving the parties to scramble to form a government to rule the landlocked country of less than 3 million, whose empire under Genghis Khan once extended west as far as Hungary.
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Mongolia polling stations close after high turnout
France24 reports that,
Polling stations closed Sunday across Mongolia, where high voter turnout capped a gruelling campaign between the two major parties, the Democrats and the ruling MPRP.
For weeks the rivals had engaged in a nasty exchange of mudslinging advertising and allegations of vote buying, but in the end the General Election Committee reported no major irregularities.
High voter turnout was reported across the country, with more than 80 percent in some areas. Vote counting began soon after the polls closed at 10pm local time, but results are not expected until Monday morning at the earliest. A new multi-mandate system of voting means counting could take longer than usual. Each ballot could have three names circled and candidates need to pass a 25% threshold to claim victory.
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