Mongolia PM resigns amid protests over his son’s lavish lifestyle

Mongolian prime minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene has resigned after shedding a confidence vote in parliament.

The vote adopted days of mass protests over corruption allegations – fuelled by social media posts about his son’s lavish birthday celebration and engagement.

Oyun-Erdene, who took workplace in 2021, will stay as caretaker PM till a successor is appointed inside 30 days.

“It was an honour to serve my nation and other people in instances of difficulties, together with pandemics, wars, and tariffs,” he mentioned after the vote.

He needed to stand down as he fell in need of a majority, or 64 of the 126-seat parliament. Some 82 lawmakers took half within the secret poll, 44 of whom voted for Oyun-Erdene, whereas 38 voted in opposition to him.

Lots of of protesters, lots of them younger folks, had been taking to the streets for 2 weeks earlier than the vote, demanding Oyun-Erdene’s resignation.

Particularly, they pointed to his household’s – particularly his son’s – obvious lavish life-style, questioning the supply of their wealth.

Mongolians have circulated on social media an extravagant wedding ceremony proposal by Oyun-Erdene’s son, in addition to costly style objects.

Oyun-Erdene has rejected allegations of corruption, accusing critics of launching a smear marketing campaign in opposition to him.

In response to Transparency Worldwide, a watchdog, Mongolia has seen worsening corruption since Oyun-Erdene got here into energy. Final 12 months, it was ranked 114th out of 180 international locations when it comes to authorities transparency.

A former communist state sanwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia has been transitioning to democracy for the reason that fall of the Soviet Union within the early Nineteen Nineties.

Corruption is a persistent downside. Final 12 months, US prosecutors sought to forfeit former Mongolian PM Sukhbaatar Batbold’s two New York residences that he allegedly purchased utilizing stolen mining funds.

Batbold, who served from 2012 to 2015, denied wrongdoing.

In recent times, Mongolia has sought to construct nearer ties with the West, counting america and European international locations as a part of its “third neighbour” overseas coverage.