Update | Mongolia presidential race heads for run-off after vote count ‘sabotage’ attempt
The populist former martial arts star Khaltmaa Battulga of the Democratic Party had a clear lead but less than the required 51 per cent of the 1.3 million votes
Mongolia will hold its first ever presidential run-off vote on July 9 after none of the three candidates secured an absolute majority in an election marred by a “sabotage” attempt, electoral authorities said on Tuesday.
The result of Monday’s vote was put off by several hours, angering supporters of the losing candidate who protested the delay as suspicious.
The drama capped a campaign marked by corruption scandals plaguing all three candidates that overshadowed voter concerns over unemployment in the debt-laden country wedged between Russia and China.
Former judoka Khaltmaa Battulga of the opposition Democratic Party finished first with 38 per cent of the vote, the General Election Committee said, well short of the 51 per cent majority needed to win outright.
Parliament speaker Mieygombo Enkhbold of the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) finished second with just over 30 per cent of the vote.
Enkhbold edged Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) by just 0.1 percentage point after he had trailed in the early vote count.