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became known as the “Velvet Revolution,” said he would be taking a harder line in a new administration. He called on voters to “replace our velvet mandate with
a steel one.”
But the victory was likely less a strong mandate for Pashinyan than a repudiation of his would-be replacements, dominated by figures from the widely hated former regime. Ahead of the vote Kocharyan emerged as Pashinyan’s strongest challenger, as his air of competence contrasted favorably with the prime minister’s erratic behavior and perceived incompetence dealing with the country’s many post-war challenges. But the former president remained deeply unpopular among Armenians who remembered
his corrupt and authoritarian rule from 1998-2008.
For many in heavily polarized Armenia, the vote represented less a choice of their candidate than a rejection of the one they feared more.
“I voted for Pashinyan even though
I have no hopes for him. I just don’t want Kocharyan to come back,” said 30-something Maria Yegiazaryan, as she voted at a polling station on the outskirts of Yerevan. “I was so nervous to not damage my ballot paper when
I put it inside the envelope, it was
like I was taking a big exam back in university,” she told Eurasianet.
“Pashinyan isn’t the one that we need, but the other one is a step backwards,” said another voter, 60-something Samvel Poghosyan, who cast his ballot at the House of Culture in the village of Oshakan in Aragatsotn province.
Despite the high stakes of these elections, turnout was only 49 percent, virtually the same as it was in the last parliamentary elections when the outcome was a foregone conclusion.
An election monitoring mission from the OSCE gave a largely positive assessment of the vote, calling them “competitive and generally well-managed” in its preliminary post-election report. Its observers found “very few significant procedural errors or serious violations,”
MPP's Khurelsukh wins landslide victory in Mongolia’s presidential election
bne IntelliNews
Securing a landslide victory, former Mongolian prime minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa became his country’s sixth democratically elected president late on June 9, further consolidating the power of the ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP), which boasts a supermajority in the parliament. The result was widely anticipated with the main opposition party in disarray.
Warning that the MPP would exert excessive power should it command both the government and the presidency, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) campaigned under the slogan “Mongolia without Dictatorship”, but most voters were clearly not worried by the dire warnings of a “one-party state” and were prepared to give the MPP a chance at securing a clearer direction for their country by having its hands on both levers of power (though Khurelsukh must constitutionally relinquish his party affiliation as soon as he takes office). The DPP, which splintered into two factions in recent months, struggled at the ballot box, having not overcome its divided state.
Khurelsukh (pictured above) comfortably defeated Sodnomzundui Erdene of the DP and Enkhbat Dangaasuren of the Right Person Electorate Coalition (RPEC), the General Election Committee said.
With 99.7% of votes counted overnight, Khurelsukh's tally had reached 821,136, or 68% of the total. That marked the largest share of the vote since the democratic era began in 1990. Enkhbat was second with 242,805 votes, or 20.1%, while Erdene came in third, with just 72,569 votes, equivalent to 6% of the total.
"I understand that all of the Mongolian people who voted in this election are expressing hope that we will complete the work we have started ... and that we will do more for our country," Khurelsukh said, as reported by Reuters. The presidency, he said, was “a huge responsibility”.
Khurelsukh will replace incumbent Battulga Khaltmaa, who was denied an opportunity to seek re-election following controversial changes to Mongolia's constitution that restricted presidents to one term in office, lasting six years.
The presidential campaign was in many ways necessarily low-key given COVID-19 restrictions. Most weekend outdoor events were cancelled after outsider candidate Enkhbat of the National Labor Party tested positive for the coronavirus.
Mongolia's president has the power to veto legislation, and until the recent constitutional changes could also hire and fire judges.
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