Mongolia elects ex-prime minister
The Associated Press
TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2005
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia A former prime minister 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 Monday.
Nambariin Enkhbayar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party
received 53 percent of the 927,586 votes cast Sunday at polling stations across
the 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 the Buddhist nation of 2.5 million people.
Opponents accused them of ignoring his party's history of repression.
Enkhbayar's main rival, Mendsaikhanin Enkhsaikhan of the Democratic
Party, received 20 percent of the vote, while two other candidates got 14 and
11 percent, Yadamsuren said at a news conference.
On Monday morning, Enkhbayar appeared with Prime Minister Elbegdorj
Tsakhia, a Democrat, at a prayer ceremony led by Mongolia's chief Buddhist monk
at the Ganden Monastery in Ulan Bator. He did not address worshippers.
The People's Revolutionary Party, which allowed multiparty democracy in
1990 after public demonstrations, has recast itself as a social democratic
party.
The voting Sunday followed elections last year that split control of
Parliament between the People's Revolutionary Party and the Democrats, forcing
them into a coalition government.
"I am confident that the new president will work with us very well,"
Elbegdorj, the prime minister, 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.
"I voted for him because he has done many things in the past for
Mongolia," said Yarinpil Chimeddorj, 57, an unemployed former salesman,
referring to Enkhbayar.
But opponents complained that supporters of the People's Revolutionary
Party had ignored the party's long history of repression.
"Mongolia is cowering again under the dark cloud of suffering and
misery," said Namsrain Gombojav, 78, a retired construction worker and
Democratic Party supporter. "The dictator is now in power."
Mongolia has struggled since subsidies from Moscow ended with the Soviet
Union's collapse.
is also from the party.
The party'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 in Mongolia, where turnout for
the last presidential election in 2001 was 83 percent, said Luvsandendeviin
Sumati, an independent pollster for the Sant Maral Foundation.
The Democratic Party's Enkhsaikhan drew his support from anti-Communists,
who defied police to take to the streets in 1990 and bring down one-party rule
in the country.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater?
Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/pkgkPB/SOnJAA/Zx0JAA/uTGrlB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
