Mongolians vote as anger grows over corruption and economy

People vote in the Mongolian parliamentary elections at a polling station in Bayanzurkh district in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on June 28,

Mongolians began voting in parliamentary elections on Friday, with the ruling party widely expected to win despite deepening public anger over corruption and the state of the economy.

Voters across the vast, sparsely populated nation of 3.4 million — sandwiched between authoritarian China and Russia — are exercising their democratic rights to elect 126 members of the State Great Khural.

Polls opened at 7 am local time (2300 GMT Thursday), AFP reporters saw in the capital Ulaanbaatar and at a remote polling station. They close at 10 pm.

At a polling station in rural Sergelen, an administrative division over an hour's drive from the capital, election workers in traditional garb stood for the national anthem ahead of the doors being opened to the public.

Voters tricked into the voting station, some taking selfies after casting their ballots, AFP reporters saw.

Among them was Batsaikan Battseren, a 45-year-old local community leader representing the ruling party who said he was urging people to come out to the polls.

"Our area's average participation is 60 percent," the former herder said, dressed head to toe in a traditional Mongolian deel.

But, he explained, "young people from 18 to 30 years old don't go to vote".

"In previous elections, I would usually bring the youngsters who have just turned 18 to let them vote, but I couldn't this year," he said.

  Public frustration 

Analysts expect the ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP), led by Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, to retain the majority it has enjoyed since 2016 and govern the...