Mongolia’s presidential election – scheduled for June 26, with campaigning opening today – is set to be a three way tussle between a self-styled horse breeder, a judoka, and a practitioner of feng shui, the Chinese art of creating harmony between man and nature. The winner will be charged with implementing Mongolia’s $5.5 billion, just-finalized bailout package from several international lenders, led by the International Monetary Fund.
He will also continue to oversee the emergence of a mining nation that has experienced its first commodity boom-and-bust-cycle. The president, along with Prime Minister J. Erdenebat’s government, will seek to restore investors’ attraction to Mongolia while managing the implementation of existing projects. The president will have to balance these developments with ensuring that benefits accrue to Mongolians from resource extraction while trying to meet a myriad of expectations and targets, like the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
