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UPDATE 2-Mongolia opposition demands re-vote in some areas

Fri Jul 4, 2008 5:06pm IST
 
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(Recasts with call for partial election re-run)

By Irja Halasz

ULAN BATOR, July 4 (Reuters) - Mongolia's opposition has called for a re-run of Sunday's election in some areas, in a challenge to preliminary results that showed the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) won a majority in parliament.

Allegations of cheating in the poll led stone-throwing mobs to set the MPRP headquarters on fire on Tuesday in a night of violence that killed five and prompted the president to impose a four-day state of emergency.

The Democratic Party said on its website that a meeting of its board agreed that a re-vote was needed in some constituencies, but it did not say how many or if they were the same areas in which party leader Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj had earlier called for a recount.

"We do need a recount of ballot papers in at least 12 disputed constituencies where our candidates may have won," Elbegdorj had earlier told Reuters.

His party's demands could dim hopes for stability in the windswept Central Asian nation after four years of fractious coalition rule that has undermined economic growth and held up mining deals seen as key to lifting the country out of poverty.

The General Election Committee said an official result will not come until Monday at the earliest, but that an initial count showed the MPRP taking 47 seats out of 76 in the Great Hural, with 26 seats for the Democratic Party and the remainder divided between smaller parties.

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