ULAN BATOR, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia will hold a second round presidential election run-off on July 9, since none of the three candidates has garnered a simply majority of votes in the first round, the country's General Election Committee said on Tuesday.
Former martial arts star Khaltmaa Battulga of the Democratic Party (DP) has emerged as the winner of the first round of the election held on Monday, earning 517,478 votes, 38.1 percent of the total, Mongolian state television reported, city sources with the general election committee.
Yet he failed to obtain the absolute majority of votes as required to win the election, the committee said.
Miyegombyn Enkhbold of the ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) earned 411,748 votes, 30.3 percent of the total, and made it to the run-off against Battulga.
A veteran politician and now the parliamentary speaker of Mongolia, Enkhbold didn't gather the absolute majority of votes during the first round, and ended up as the second, possibly due to his party's unpopular yet necessary austerity measures.
Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) finished with 30.2 percent, following Enkhbold by only less than 2,000 votes. He won't be able to compete in the run-off election.
The candidate who obtains an absolute majority of the vote in the run-off will become the fifth president of Mongolia.
A total of 1,357,788 people cast their votes in the seventh presidential election of Mongolia. The turnout was 68.27 percent.
According to the Law on the Election of the President of Mongolia, if none of the candidates gets more than 50 percent of the total votes, then a run-off must be held within two weeks.
