Mongolia PM resigns amid protests over his son’s lavish way of life

Mongolian prime minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene has resigned after dropping 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 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 stated 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 towards him.

Tons of of protesters, lots of them younger individuals, 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 way of life, 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 trend gadgets.

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

In keeping with Transparency Worldwide, a watchdog, Mongolia has seen worsening corruption since Oyun-Erdene got here into energy. Final yr, 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 because the fall of the Soviet Union within the early Nineties.

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

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

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