ULAN BATOR, Mongolia — Rifle-toting soldiers and armored vehicles guarded Mongolia’s capital Wednesday, one day after at least five people died in rioting sparked by allegations of fraud in parliamentary elections.
President Nambaryn Enkhbayar declared a four-day state of emergency after thousands of rock-throwing protesters clashed with police Tuesday while they mobbed the headquarters of the ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party and set it aflame. The demonstrators also attacked the General Election Commission, demanding that officials resign.
Enkhbayar, a member of the ruling party, acknowledged the fraud allegations but appealed for calm. Police and troops imposed a 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. curfew, and downtown streets were nearly deserted Wednesday night.
On Sunday, voters stood in long lines to cast ballots in an election that focused on how to share Mongolia’s mineral wealth. Many hoped the vote would improve lives in the mostly poor, landlocked country sandwiched between China and Russia.
According to preliminary results, the ruling party — the former communists who governed when Mongolia was a Soviet satellite — won 46 seats in the 76-seat parliament.
The ruling party has long been dogged by allegations of corruption and misconduct by officials, and it is unpopular in the capital.
One Mongolian scholar said the unrest stemmed from anger over acute poverty and no improvement despite repeated government promises.
Mongolia is struggling to modernize its nomadic, agriculture-based economy. The government says per-capita income is just $1,500 a year for 3 million people who are spread across an area about three times the size of Spain.
