PRESIDENTIAL RUNOFF IN MONGOLIA

Ulan Bator (Mongolia): Mongolia will hold its first ever presidential runoff vote on July 9 after none of the three candidates secured an absolute majority in an election marred by a “sabotage” attempt, electoral authorities said on Tuedday. The result of vote was put off by several hours, angering supporters of the losing candidate who protested the delay as suspicious. The drama capped a campaign marked by corruption scandals plaguing all three candidates. Former judoka Khaltmaa Battulga of the opposition Democratic Party finished first with 38 percent of the vote, the General Election Committee said, well short of the 51 percent majority needed to win outright. Parliament speaker Mieygombo Enkhbold of the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) finished second with just over 30 per cent of the vote. Enkhbold edged Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party by just 0.1 percentage point after he had trailed in the early vote count.