Mongolia braces for change

It's 7.30am and Chuluun Ganhuyag is standing in Sukhbaatar Square, limbering up in a tight-fitting black Adidas tracksuit. A group of supporters surround him, stretching and bending over to touch their toes, each of them wearing a T-shirt with an image of Ganhuyag's stubbly pate printed on the back.

The early morning jog across the potholed streets of Ulan Bator is part physical fitness and part campaign tactic as the 39-year-old pursues membership in Mongolia's 76-seat parliament, called the Great Hural.

'In order to stay fit during the campaign, I initiated this jogging group to run every morning. I think it energises and inspires young people to do sports and get involved with city life,' said Ganhuyag, before dashing across Sukhbaatar Square, which is named after the hero of Mongolia's 1921 communist revolution.

Sporting a crew cut and boyish looks, Ganhuyag is the fresh face of the Mongolian People's Party (MPP), the ruling force in Mongolia's political establishment and the one that is facing the greatest pressure as the country holds general elections on Thursday.

MPP, Mongolia's oldest political party, was known as the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) until 2010, when it reverted to the name by which it had been known since 1924, three years after it was formed in 1921. But after an internal split, the MPRP name was adopted by a breakaway faction now led by former president Nambar Enkhbayar. MPRP currently portrays itself as a protest party for voters fed up with the establishment.

Locked in a fierce battle for votes with the opposition Democratic Party (DP), MPP is trailing the Democrats by 14 points in the latest opinion polls. According to a survey conducted by the Sant Maral Foundation, 42 per cent of voters support the DP, while just 28 per cent favour MPP.