Unrest after voting in Mongolia, fire in party building

Ulan Bator - Unrest broke out in Mongolia a day after parliamentary elections with supporters of the defeated opposition storming the party headquarters of the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) and setting the building on fire on Tuesday in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator.

According to witnesses, the MPRP building was laid waste. Clashes also took place in the country's second largest city Darkhan, local reports said.

Tsakhia Elbegdorj, the chairman of the opposition Democratic Party (DP), had earlier accused the MPRP of election manipulation, saying the results are not arrived at honestly.

Elbegdorj claimed that votes and ballots were sold, and election observers were bribed, but could not provide any concrete proof of the allegations. He instead pointed only to the great disparity between the opinion polls and the actual results for his party.

According to early estimates from the provinces, the MPRP won 38 of the 76 seats in the State Great Khural, or parliament, after being in a dead heat with the rival Democratic Party going into Sunday's elections.

The election commission said about 74 per cent of 1.5 million registered voters cast their ballots Sunday, well below pre-poll estimates.

Some voters protested after polling stations closed before they had a chance to cast their ballots. (dpa)

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