Mongolians head to the polls tomorrow to elect a new president in a tight race that will help determine when and how the country will reach consensus on working with foreign investors to tap its vast mineral wealth.
A pressing issue at stake is whether parliament can quickly ratify a long-awaited draft investment agreement on the US$3 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project, set to be developed by Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto.
While the office of president is largely ceremonial, the contest over that symbol of national unity has already distracted parliament from working on approving the landmark agreement. Any disputes over the election’s outcome could further push back progress.
A victory by opposition Democratic Party (DP) candidate Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj over incumbent Nambariin Enkhbayar of the ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) could set back foreign investors’ long-term interests.
“If Elbegdorj wins, that would be a pretty strong signal of probably more complications in policymaking over mining, given his track record on anti-foreign and populist inclinations,” said Damien Ma, of the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.
Mongolia, whose annual per-capita income is about US$1,200, wants to use its deposits of copper, gold, uranium, lead, zinc, and coal to pull its nearly 3 million people out of poverty.
The government’s desire to formulate the Oyu Tolgoi deal as a template for future mining projects has meant negotiations have dragged on for years, as Mongolia seeks to ensure it obtains more favorable terms than with past projects.
But sealing the deal quickly is important if Mongolia hopes to realize its ambitions of becoming a mining powerhouse and take advantage of the next upturn in commodity prices.
In the meantime nearly US$1 billion in foreign loans and grants are helping Mongolia, a vast, windswept country wedged between Russia and China, through a collapse in mineral prices, particularly for its biggest export, copper, that has seriously dented income.
Any repeat of the type of unrest and ensuing legal struggles that followed last year’s parliamentary elections, in which at least five died, could postpone the Oyu Tolgoi project and other investments further, just when the country most needs to secure future sources of revenue, Ma said.
If any post-election disruptions to progress on mining were serious, there could even be a “low, but slight uptick” in the risk that Ivanhoe or Rio Tinto could become so disenchanted that they would think twice about Oyu Tolgoi, he said.
Frustration over rampant poverty and perceptions of official corruption appear to be working in favor of challenger Elbegdorj, said Luvsandendev Sumati, director of the Sant Maral Foundation, a group that does polling and surveys.
A poll by the foundation late last month showed that 37 percent of voters favored Elbegdorj, while just more than 36 percent would vote for Enkhbayar.
Polling is not permitted during the seven days prior to the election and exit polls are also banned, but Sumati said there were signs Elbegdorj had been gaining among constituencies that have traditionally favored the ruling MPRP.
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
RIGHTS FEARS: A protester said Beijing would use the embassy to catch and send Hong Kongers to China, while a lawmaker said Chinese agents had threatened Britons Hundreds of demonstrators on Saturday protested at a site earmarked for Beijing’s controversial new embassy in London over human rights and security concerns. The new embassy — if approved by the British government — would be the “biggest Chinese embassy in Europe,” one lawmaker said earlier. Protester Iona Boswell, a 40-year-old social worker, said there was “no need for a mega embassy here” and that she believed it would be used to facilitate the “harassment of dissidents.” China has for several years been trying to relocate its embassy, currently in the British capital’s upmarket Marylebone district, to the sprawling historic site in the
‘IMPOSSIBLE’: The authors of the study, which was published in an environment journal, said that the findings appeared grim, but that honesty is necessary for change Holding long-term global warming to 2°C — the fallback target of the Paris climate accord — is now “impossible,” according to a new analysis published by leading scientists. Led by renowned climatologist James Hansen, the paper appears in the journal Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development and concludes that Earth’s climate is more sensitive to rising greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought. Compounding the crisis, Hansen and colleagues argued, is a recent decline in sunlight-blocking aerosol pollution from the shipping industry, which had been mitigating some of the warming. An ambitious climate change scenario outlined by the UN’s climate
BACK TO BATTLE: North Korean soldiers have returned to the front lines in Russia’s Kursk region after earlier reports that Moscow had withdrawn them following heavy losses Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday pored over a once-classified map of vast deposits of rare earths and other critical minerals as part of a push to appeal to US President Donald Trump’s penchant for a deal. The US president, whose administration is pressing for a rapid end to Ukraine’s war with Russia, on Monday said he wanted Ukraine to supply the US with rare earths and other minerals in return for financially supporting its war effort. “If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it,” Zelenskiy said, emphasizing Ukraine’s need for security guarantees
RSS