P 300054Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2313
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UNCLAS ULAANBAATAR 000322 
 
 
SENSTIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM, EAP/EX, DRL AND INR/EAP 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM PREL KPAO MG
SUBJECT: VOTING GOES SMOOTHLY IN MONGOLIAQS 
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS 
 
REF: (A) ULAANBAATAR 320 
     (B) WIEGAND-SES-O-WATCHTEAM EMAILS 29June2008 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Voting in MongoliaQs Parliamentary 
elections went smoothly and ended on schedule at 10 pm on 
Sunday, June 29;  election authorities then started the 
lengthy process of vote-counting.  Preliminary returns 
were not expected to be available until well into June 
30, at the earliest.  Initial statistics on voter 
turnout, provided by the General Election Commission, 
suggested heavy turnout (estimated in the 70-80% range). 
According to information from Embassy UlaanbaatarQs 23 
credentialed election observers (deployed within the 
capital and to the provinces of Khovd, Bulgan, Orkhon, 
Arhangai and Tov), voting in most areas went without a 
hitch, and the media noted the AmbassadorQs visits to 
several polling stations.  Except for one minor scuffle, 
there were no reports of election-related violence.  At a 
vast majority of polling stations, processing was 
orderly, transparent and in accordance with MongoliaQs 
Election Law.  Observers said the rights of partisan 
election monitors were respected, and that election 
facilities and arrangements were generally good and 
election officials ere cooperative, flexible and 
effective.  There were several allegations of vote- 
buying, but no concrete evidence to support these 
allegations has emerged.  In at least two locations, 
government officials were accused of distributing new 
national ID cards on election day.  The vote-counting 
could take as much as a few days, and runoffs could 
complicate the process.  While it is too early to label 
SundayQs election an unqualified success, Mongolians 
exercised their right to vote, reinforcing their emerging 
transformation to democracy. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) At 10 pm on Sunday, June 29, voting in 
MongoliaQs Parliamentary elections ended as scheduled and 
election authorities started the lengthy process of vote- 
counting.  Limited preliminary returns may emerge late in 
the day on  June 30.  Initial statistics on voter 
turnout, provided in the middle of Election Day by the 
General Election Commission (GEC), indicated heavy 
turnout in line with previous elections (typically 70- 
80%), but late-afternoon rains in some parts of the 
country may have dampened overall turnout.  Swollen 
rivers and muddy terrain from earlier rains had been 
expected to keep some voters from voting.  Some 356 
candidates, competed in 26 districts (20 in the provinces 
and six in Ulaanbaatar) for 76 seats in Parliament. 
Unlike  the 2004Parliamentary elections, in which each 
voter selected a single candidate, this yearQs elections 
involved multi-member constituencies, voters could pick 
two, three or four candidates (depending on the 
population of their district). 
 
VOTING WENT SMOOTHLY; ONE MINOR SCUFFLE REPORTED 
---------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to information from Embassy UBQs 23 
credentialed election observers (deployed within the 
capital and to the provinces of Khovd, Bulgan, Orkhon, 
Arhangai and Tov), voting in most areas went smoothly. 
This was echoed by some of the 17 observers affiliated 
with The Asia Foundation (TAF), and others deployed by 
the Asia Pacific Democracy Partnership (APDP).  With the 
exception of one minor altercation in UB between a 
supporter of the ruling Mongolian PeopleQs Revolutionary 
Party (MPRP) and a supporter of the opposition Democratic 
Party (DP), there were no reports of election-related 
violence. 
 
PROCESSING TRANSPARENT AND IN LINE WITH ELECTION LAW 
---------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Observers reported that at a vast majority of 
polling stations, processing was orderly, transparent and 
in accordance with the Election Law; that the rights of 
partisan election monitors were respected; and that 
election authorities were generally cooperative, flexible 
and effective.  The police presence was low-key, 
described by one observer as "unobtrusive."  An American 
observer who had witnessed at least three Parliamentary 
elections in Mongolia said international observers were 
better treated in these elections than in previous ones. 
Voter lists at polling stations visited by PostQs 
observers ranged from more than 4,000 voters at certain 
UB stations, to as few as 416 voters at a polling station 
in a converted ger in the town of Nariingol ("Narrow 
River") in a remote area of far-western Khovd Province. 
(Note: Goats, cows and motorcycles outnumbered people; 
some of the latter traveled 40 km to vote, according to 
one of PostQs observers.  End Note.) 
 
VOTE-BUYING ALLEGED, BUT EVIDENCE HAS YET TO SURFACE 
---------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) PostQs election Command Center received several 
allegations of vote-buying, but none were supported by 
concrete evidence.  The allegations started flying even 
before the start of balloting.  In Tsetserleg, capital of 
the central province of Arkhangai, a DP member accused 
MPRP members of handing out cash on June 28.  No evidence 
to support that accusation has emerged.  However, in the 
same city, on the same day, Democrats said they had 
"followed and photographed little old ladies who were 
making their rounds and passing out MPRP cash."  The DP 
said it immediately shared the photos with the General 
Election Commission; post has not seen the photos and 
cannot confirm their existence.  Also on June 28, in the 
northern city of Darkhan, a member of the Civil Will 
Party (which, along with the New National Party, is 
currently a junior party in the three-party, MPRP-led 
coalition government) alleged that DP members were 
passing out cash and promising more later, after the 
payeeQs vote was "confirmed."  No concrete evidence had 
emerged.  In UBQs Chingeltei District, a citizen filed a 
complaint alleging that DP buses were used to transport 
voters to polling stations, and that en route, bribes 
were being offered in exchange for votes for DP 
candidates.  A DP district election official reported a 
similar claim made against the MPRP.  No evidence to 
support these allegations has  emerged.  Vote-buying with 
rice was alleged by individuals in UBQs densely populated 
and low-income Bayanzurkh District (where other 
unsubstantiated irregularities were also suspected).  In 
UBQs Bayangol District, an election commissioner informed 
one of our observers that an aide to MPRP candidate 
Bolormaa was trying to bribe voters; no evidence was 
provided. 
 
NEW ID CARDS REPORTEDLY ISSUED IN SOME LOCATIONS 
---------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) In a village outside the northern mining city of 
Erdenet, in the tiny province of Orkhon, DP and Civil 
Will party monitors informed election observers that a 
village chief (most are MPRP members) had distributed 
around 100 new national ID cards to local residents, many 
of whom are soldiers (based at a nearby military training 
camp).  The matter was reported to election authorities. 
 
In UBQs elite Sukhbaatar District, the nominal voting 
residence of the President, Speaker and Prime Minister 
(and visited by the Ambassador in two of his four stops 
at polling stations), Mongolian national television 
reported that the District Governor and three "social 
workers" reportedly distributed at least 60 new national 
ID cards to local residents.  Election authorities are 
understood to have referred the case to police. 
 
ELDERLY WOMEN SAID TO CAMPAIGN IN FRONT OF POLLING 
STATIONS 
---------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) In Tsetserleg, as well as in UBQs gritty 
Songinokhairkhan District  observers saw an elderly woman 
standing outside a polling station encouraging inbound 
voters to support the MPRP.  The woman was asked to 
leave.  In the same district, a group of elderly women 
were reportedly standing outside a polling station, 
drumming up support for the MPRP (in contravention of the 
Election Law, which required all forms of campaigning 
cease at mid-night on June 27). They too were asked to 
leave. 
 
VARIOUS ELECTION-RELATED DISPUTES 
---------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Other election-related disputes involved the 
following: 
 
-- In the UBQs Songinokhairkhan District, more than 200 
voters were reportedly deemed ineligible to vote because 
of discrepancies on their two key forms of ID: their 
national ID card and their voter card.  Later in the day, 
however, GEC Chairman Battulga made clear that the 
individuals in question should be allowed to vote.  It 
was not clear whether their quest to vote was, in the 
end, successful.  (Note: The difference in information on 
the two cards related to a communityQs name change; the 
votersQ older national ID cards identified their home 
area by one name -- e.g., Formosa - while their voter 
cards identified it by another - e.g. Taiwan.  End Note.) 
 
-- At a polling stations in the city of Baganuur, in 
central Tov province, voting booths were set up in front 
of a bank of mirrors, possibly enabling people to see how 
voters were marking their ballot.  In UBQs Bayanzurkh 
District, an observer found that partisan election 
monitors were seated directly behind voting booths, 
violating the right to privacy. 
 
-- Also in Bayanzurkh district, a British election 
observer allegedly saw a stack of unused voter cards. 
Outside the same polling station, her Mongolian 
translator allegedly overheard a man telling someone over 
a cell phone, "ItQs not too busy now; you should bring 
over more people." 
 
-- During one of at least three news conferences by GEC 
leaders carried live on TV on Election Day, GEC Secretary 
General Bayarsaikhan said there had been a "lot of 
movement" of voters from UB to Darkhan.  This was seen by 
some Mongolian viewers as a reference to the illegal 
movement of voters. 
 
-- At UBQs southwestern Khan-Uul district, an Embassy 
observer saw a car lurking by the back door of a polling 
station not long after the start of voting.  When the 
observer approached, the car sped off quickly; it was 
unclear why. 
 
 
WHAT NOW? 
---------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) In the biggest and most hotly-contested 
districts, vote-counting could take days, and runoffs 
could complicate the process (ref A).  Post will report 
front-channel on election results, when they are 
available. 
 
MINTON