Page 23 - bne_newspaper_July-07_2017

Eurasia
July 7, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 23
after a ruthless character in the Godfather film and credited for building Mongolia’s biggest Genghis Khan statue, Battulga’s populist streak earned him more votes than his opponents in the first round of the elections. He took 38.1% (or 517,478 votes) on June 26.
For the first time in Mongolia’s democratic his- tory, there was no outright winner. Battulga will go on to face Miyegombo, whose MPP controls the parliament and who won 411,748 votes, or 30.3% of the vote. Ganbaatar Sainkhuu of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP), lost out on second place to Enkhbold by only 2,000 votes,
and was eliminated from the contest, despite his party’s objections.
Trained lawyer Enkhbold’s chances of winning the presidency were originally predicted as better than those of Battulga, but the favourite was hurt by a campaign surprise – a three-year-old audio recording in circulation is said to feature him and
two MPP colleagues discussing payments for sen- ior government positions. Denying the claims, the MPP insists the tapes have been edited to portray the remarks out of context.
Indeed, both Battulga and Enkhbold have been battling corruption allegations. Prior to election day, the MPP accused Battulga of misappropriat- ing mining contracts. He also faces allegations posted on the internet that he has large unstated overseas assets. However, his campaign has denied all the claims put forward, and he appears to have been hurt less by allegations against his persona than Enkhbold has.
Meanwhile, both candidates have been at pains to explain how they would restore Mongolia's eco- nomic fortunes. The country grew by more than 17% in 2011 but only notched up 1% GDP growth in 2016, as economic expansion almost came to
a shuddering halt because of a steep decline in commodities prices.
SIGN UP FOR
A FREE DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION TO BNE’S MAGAZINE
Sign up to bne IntelliNews’ monthly e-magazine for free, delivered to your inbox each month.
We cover business, economics, finance and politics of the 30 countries of emerging Europe and central Asia.
While other news outlets report on what is happening, we look at why with our in-depth analysis.
To get the e-version of our monthly magazine fill out the form here.
Or go to bne.eu/welcome to see samples of this and other products.