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ULAN BATOR, (Mongolia) - THE former communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party has won the national elections, the General Election Committee said on Thursday as it dismissed allegations of vote rigging.
The MPRP won 47 of the 76 seats in parliament, while its main rival the Democratic Party won 26 seats, spokesman Purevdorjiin Naranbat said.
Independents and minor parties won the other three, he said. 'I am sure this is the final result,' he said.
Accusations by the Democratic Party that the MPRP had rigged the elections led to riots in the capital of Ulan Bator on Tuesday that left five people dead and forced the government to implement an unprecedented state of emergency.
However, Mr Naranbat said the elections were fair. 'The election was organised well and by law. It was really fair,' he said. 'Some people did not accept that their candidates lost. We counted again and again but it was still the same result so there is nothing wrong.'
Meanwhile, calm has returned to Ulan Bator. The violence has dampened hopes for a period of stable government to develop the mining sector and tackle inflation in the vast but thinly populated country, strategically sandwiched between China and Russia.
A curfew has been imposed in Ulan Bator, though the situation on the streets appeared to have returned to normal following the violence, in which protesters clashed with police and set fire to the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) headquarters.
President Nambariin Enkhbayar declared a four-day state of emergency late on Tuesday after the protests.
The emergency rule - the first in Mongolia's history - means protests are banned and security forces can use tear gas and rubber bullets to break up demonstrations.
The uncertainty threatens to further delay deals that could unlock vast reserves of copper, coal, uranium and other resources beneath the country's vast steppes and deserts, seen as key to lifting the landlocked Central Asian state out of poverty.
The biggest project at stake is at Oyu Tolgoi, also known as Turquoise Hill, backed by Ivanhoe Mines of Canada and Rio Tinto.
The two companies propose to spend up to US$3 billion (S$3.9 billion) developing the field. Rio paid US$303 million for a 10 per cent stake in Ivanhoe in 2006. It has said it could invest up to US$1.5 billion, under defined conditions, when the deal is approved. -- REUTERS, AFP
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