Mongolia Erupts With Post-Vote Violence

Mongolian police cordoned off the capital's downtown Wednesday at the start of a four-day emergency declared after protesters torched the headquarters of the ruling party, alleging fraud in weekend elections.

President Nambaryn Enkhbayar's decree, issued early Wednesday, allows police to use force in dealing with thousands of rock-throwing protesters who clashed with police officers and mobbed the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) headquarters and set it on fire.

Several floors of the building were burned, but the fire was put out by Wednesday morning. Looters grabbed paintings from an art gallery and televisions from government offices during the protests. The Mongolia Web News site reported that instruments from the national symphony were destroyed.

Police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon to beat back protesters in downtown Ulan Bator, and cordoned off the area later Wednesday. There were roadblocks in some areas, but public transport was working, shops were open and people were walking around.

"Police will use necessary force to crack down on criminals who are looting private and government property," said Munkhorgil, the minister of justice and home affairs, who like some Mongolians goes by one name. Ulan Bator was also placed under a 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. curfew, he said.

The president, a ruling party member, acknowledged the protesters' complaints over results of the election but appealed for calm.

"Let's sit down and solve the election fraud," he said on national TV.

According to the Mongolia News Web site, Enkhbayar said there would be an investigation into "any irregularities during the election."

It also reported that police arrested "hundreds of people, mainly young men." It was not known if any opposition leaders were detained.

The speaker of the parliament has called a meeting to address the allegations, but it is not known when that will be. Many members live in rural areas and will have to travel back to the capital.

Mongolians voted Sunday in parliamentary elections that focused on how to share the country's mineral wealth.

Fraud allegations originally centered on two districts in Ulan Bator that were awarded to the ruling party but were contested by two popular members of the Civic Movement party. Protesters later called the entire election into question, with opposition Democrats saying that their party, not the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, won the poll.

Protesters also attacked the General Election Commission offices Tuesday night, demanding that officials resign over the alleged voting irregularities. The commission defended the vote, but at least one party called for a re-count in some districts of Ulan Bator.

"The Mongolian people voted for democracy and not for the MPRP, who are ex-communists," said Magnai Otgonjargal, vice chairman of the Civic Movement party.

According to preliminary results, the MPRP - which also governed the country when it was a Soviet satellite - won 46 seats. That easily gives the party far more than half of the 76 seats in parliament, called the State Great Khural.

Mongolia, a mostly poor country sandwiched between China and Russia, is struggling to modernize its nomadic, agriculture-based economy. The government says per capita income is just US$1,500 a year in the country of about 3 million people spread across an area about three times the size of Spain.

The two main political parties focused their campaigns on how to tap recently discovered mineral deposits - including copper, gold and coal - but disagreed over whether the government or private sector should hold a majority stake.

The MPRP wants the government to hold the majority stake, while the Mongolian Democratic Party says private Mongolian companies should be able to hold it.