Tsakhia Elbegdorj re-elected Mongolian president
Elbegdorj's re-election provides an opportunity to reverse his nation's growing wealth gap
A former journalist who helped throw off decades of communist rule, Mongolia's president Tsakhia Elbegdorj is expected to use his fresh mandate to confront charges that he has failed to combat a wealth gap generated by a resources boom.
Elbegdorj secured a second term as president on Wednesday, a position he has held since 2009 when he took office thanks to his democratic pedigree in a country where many believe politics is corrupt.
He was a leading figure in Mongolia's peaceful 1990 revolution, an event which signalled a transition from 70 years under communism to a democracy which has been largely stable.
Four years ago, the Harvard-educated Democratic Party candidate was voted in on a populist platform of ending graft and reversing a widening rich-poor gap in the nation of nearly three million people.
But while Mongolia has seen the influx of huge sums of cash from foreign investors resulting in the rapid development of the country's tiny economy, little of the money has trickled down to the poor.
"My life has not changed a bit after Elbegdorj became president," said Ochirbat Dambayarimpil, 68, who runs a convenience store in Ulan Bator.