The Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) has accused Mongolia's General Election Commission (GEC) of twisting the results of the first round of the June 26 presidential election to exclude its third-placed candidate Ganbaatar Sainkhuu from the second round run-off, state-run Monstame news agency reported on June 28.

The MPRP alleged that the GEC - which on June 28 announced it had decided to shift the second round from the originally announced July 9 to July 7 - was guilty of “fixing its deceit quickly” in eliminating Ganbaatar, who officially lost out to second-placed Enkhbold Miyegombo (of the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), which controls parliament) by around 2,000 votes.

The first round ended with second-favourite Battulga Khaltmaa (Democratic Party) taking 517,478 votes, or 38.1% and pre-election favourite Enkhbold winning 411,748 votes, or 30.3%. Ganbaatar was awarded 30.2%.

The MPRP’s claims might be seen as not entirely unfounded.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in a post-election day statement that the GEC’s conduct led to a lack of transparency, since the body only released aggregated results, based on OSCE’s observations.

The OSCE also noted that “campaign finance regulations levelled the playing field to a certain extent, yet the provisions for transparency and accountability were insufficient and did not address concerns of corruption in political life”.

The stakes at the presidential elections are not seen as so high because in Mongolia the parliament controls the government. Even though the president can veto legislative decisions, the parliament can overturn his interventions with a two-thirds majority vote. However, the head of state can also make some key appointments, including the heads of the Independent Authority Against Corruption and the General Intelligence Agency.