Losing a confidence vote in parliament, Mongolian prime minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene has resigned.
Driven by social media posts concerning his son’s extravagant birthday celebration and involvement, the vote followed days of widespread demonstrations over corruption accusations.
Starting in 2021, Oyun-Erdene will continue carer PM until a successor is chosen within 30 days.
Following the vote, he remarked, “it was an honour to serve my country and people in times of difficulties, including pandemics, wars, and tariffs.”
He had to resign since he fell short of a majority—that is, 64 of the 126-seat legislature. Participating in the secret ballot were some 82 legislators, 44 of whom voted for Oyun-Erdene and 38 against him.
Before the vote, hundreds of demonstrators—many of them young people—had been marching for two weeks in demand of Oyun-Erdene’s resignation.
They particularly questioned the source of his family’s apparent extravagant lifestyle, notably that of his son.
Mongolians have shared on social media costly fashion goods and an elaborate wedding proposal by Oyun-Erdene’s son.
Oyun-Erdene has denied claims of corruption, charging rivals of starting a smear campaign against him.
Transparency International, a watchdog, claims that since Oyun-Erdene came into office, Mongolia has observed increasing corruption. In terms of government openness in year it came in 114th out of 180 nations.
Originally a communist state sandwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia has been moving toward democracy since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
One always finds corruption in some form. US prosecutors sought to renounce two New York properties purchased by former Mongolian PM Sukhbaatar Batbold using allegedly stolen mining money last year.
Serving from 2012 to 2015, Batbold denied any wrongdoing.
Counting the United States and European nations as part of its “third neighbor,” Mongolia has worked recently to establish stronger ties with the West.
