How do elections work in Mongolia?
The country democratically elects its 76-seat parliament, the State Great Hural, every four years. The president has limited powers and is elected by universal suffrage every four years. Former prime minister Nambar Enkhbayar of the MPRP is current president after winning 2005 elections. What were the results of the current elections? Two main political parties faced off during the recent elections: the Mongolian Democratic Party and the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (the ex-communist MPRP), which declared victory after winning 46 seats over the weekend, according to preliminary results. How do the two parties differ? Mongolia is struggling to modernize its nomadic, agriculture-based economy. The key issue in the election involved how to tap the country’s recently discovered mineral deposits, including copper, gold and coal. The MPRP wants the government to hold the majority stake, while the Mongolian Democratic Party says private Mongolian companies should be able to hold it.