Battulga to face Enkhbold in first presidential runoff

Mongolia will hold its first ever presidential runoff vote 
on July 9 after none of the three candidates won an 
absolute majority in the election, electoral officials say.

Khaltmaa Battulga of the opposition Democratic Party 
won the most votes, but failed to secure the majority 
required, the General Election Committee said on Monday.

"I never lose, I must win. I always win in the history of my
life," Battulga told Reuters news agency in an interview on
Monday night, before the preliminary results were announced.

The former martial arts star will face off against parliament
speaker Miyeegombo Enkhbold of the ruling Mongolian
People's Party (MPP), who scraped through with a 0.1
percentage point lead over Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP).


The third-place finisher has alleged fraud and demanded a
recount.

"We should recount it, otherwise we lose our democracy,"
Ganbaatar told AFP news agency.

Tight race The election was seen as a referendum on the government's economic recovery plans and China's role in resource-rich Mongolia, a parliamentary democracy that has been buffeted by financial upheaval in recent years.

After the final districts were counted, Battulga emerged 
with 517,478 votes, 38.1 percent of the total, according to
Mongolia's state television.

The race for the second spot in the runoff was tight.

After lagging behind in the early count overnight, Enkhbold
pulled ahead of Ganbaatar early Tuesday, with 30.3 percent 
of the total. The MPRP candidate trailed Enkhbold by fewer than 2,000 votes.


An establishment politician and currently parliamentary
speaker, Enkhbold appears to have suffered as a result 
of his party's austerity policies.

The new MPP administration secured a $5.5bn loan 
from the International Monetary Fund last year, raised 
interest rates, and slashed public spending to try to cope 
with heavy debts and a precipitous fall in the value of Mongolia's currency, the tugrik.

Around two-thirds of nearly two million registered voters 
cast ballots, the election commission said.

More than 18,000 ballots were left blank by voters 
protesting against the choice of candidates on offer.

Voters said they heard little from the three about
unemployment and jobs, their top concerns according to
opinion polls. Campaigning has instead focused on their
opponents' allegedly shady pasts.

A video showed Enkhbold and two MPP officials 
discussing a $25m plan for selling government positions.

Battulga, a brash businessman, was haunted by reports of
offshore accounts attached to his name, as well as the
arrests of several of his associates by Mongolia's anti-
corruption body last spring.

And Ganbaatar appeared in a video in which he allegedly
received a $44,000 donation from a member of the Moonies,
or Unification Church, a South Korean-based Christian group
that critics consider a cult.


All three rejected the allegations against them.