Booming patriotic tunes, rows of red-hatted activists and supporters wearing traditional garb — Mongolia’s prime minister was given a grand welcome this week at a rally in the country’s rural heartlands.
Mongolians go to the polls on Friday in parliamentary elections, with the ruling Mongolian People’s Party widely expected to retain a majority it has enjoyed since 2016.
And in the rural heartlands on Wednesday, in a sports centre bedecked with national and party flags under a high roof in the style of a traditional ger dwelling, party leader Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene was welcomed at a boisterous gathering of the party faithful.
As elderly men and women gathered in the traditional Mongolian deel dress, a loudspeaker blared the party’s promise to voters: “Victory for the people.”
Herders wearing cowboy hats and high boots brought a distinctive rodeo feel to the rally, where two screens broadcast MPP talking points on the economy to a rousing patriotic soundtrack interspersed with the booming sounds of hawks and horses.
Above them, the walls of the sports complex featured images of great Mongolian wrestlers.
And outside, young party workers chanted slogans and wore t-shirts declaring “We love Tuv”, the name of the province, which surrounds the capital Ulaanbaatar.
Regzen Myagmar, a 57-year-old retired herder, told AFP that he and his friend had come to “meet the prime minister”.
“He’s a good man,” he said, next to fellow herders decked out in knee-high black boots.
Another retired herder — a common profession in Mongolia’s central Tuv province and across rural areas — said she had come to support “my party”, to which she has belonged for four years.
“I’m very happy that the prime minister picked a lot of professionals in this election,” said Tserendagva Chantsaldulam, 67.
“He picked engineers, technicians — people who can do stuff.”
Before long, Oyun-Erdene took to the stage to raucous applause from the crowd, alongside nine other candidates running for seats in the upcoming elections.
The room then stood, hands on chests, for the national anthem.
He delivered an emotive and populist speech railing against his opponents for having turned Mongolia into a “land of corrupt leaders”.
“We need to return to discipline,” he told supporters.
‘Nothing progresses’
Corruption is an endemic problem in Mongolia and one of voters’ top concerns in polls this week.
The MPP has vowed to crack down, but the country has fallen in Transparency International’s corruption perceptions ranking for almost every year it has been in power.
Its supporters insisted to AFP on Wednesday that the party was working to curb the issue.
“Oyun-Erdene has done a really good job, I really support his work,” said the 47-year-old Sodanjamts Oyunchimeg, the leader of a small administrative area.
Janchiv Erdenetuya, a 45-year-old herder, told AFP she had been a party member since 1998 and blamed the country’s judiciary for the lack of action on corruption.
She said that the government should have greater powers to punish officials.
“All of those (corruption) cases end in the courts and nothing progresses,” she said, sporting a red cap and t-shirt bearing the emblem of the MPP, with matching sunglasses.
“I do believe that if they hold more power in government those issues will be resolved,” she explained.
Oyun-Erdene is a “very well-educated person whose voice reaches the public”, she added.
But just a few metres from the rally, some young voters said they were not as supportive.
“I would like to see a prime minister who respects young people, their views and concerns, who would give direct answers,” said Davaajargal Baasandeberel, a 26-year-old farmer.
She said she had left the rally, unimpressed by Oyun-Erdene’s speech.
“He has a rounded tongue — he used to have a rounded tongue in the past, and he still does,” she said, using a Mongolian expression for someone who is inarticulate.
“If they don’t follow up on their policy promises, we have the right to demand accountability.”
