Mongolia’s ruling party won only a slim majority in parliamentary election, early results show ( apnews.com )

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — The ruling party has won Mongolia’s parliamentary election but by only a slim margin as the opposition made major gains, according to tallies by the party and news media based on near-complete results.

Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai told the media early Saturday that the Mongolia People’s Party won 68 to 70 seats in the 126-seat body, based on preliminary results, “meaning we have won the election.”

Although the official results haven’t been announced, that has less to do with the certainty of the ruling Mongolian People’s Party’s victory and more to do with the difficulties of gathering results from far-flung corners of the nation.

These results are a setback from Luvsannamsrai and his party. They had won won 62 of the-then 76 seats in the parliament in 2020. This time, in a parliament expanded to 162 seats — 50 more than in the previous election in 2020 — they are much less dominant.

With 99% of the vote counted, tallies by Mongolian media indicate the opposition Democratic Party won about 40 seats — a big jump from 2020. The results indicate that opposition parties have been able to capitalize on voter discontent and eat into the ruling party’s majority,