Mongolia has blocked former president Nambaryn Enkhbayar from running for parliament in upcoming elections, a move that many say could damage the young, mineral-rich democracy’s reputation for transparency and upholding democratic principles.

Mr Enkhbayar, who has been charged with five counts of corruption but not convicted of any crime, had been planning to run for parliament on June 28 as the head of the recently formed Mongolian People’s Revolutionary party.

However the General Elections Committee failed to accept Mr Enkhbayar’s candidacy before a crucial June 6 registration deadline, effectively barring him from participating. The committee had questioned his qualifications and said in a statement on Thursday that he was unfit to be a candidate.

Mongolia, one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, goes to the polls at the end of the month to elect a new parliament that will sit for four years.

Mr Enkhbayar’s case is Mongolia’s highest-level corruption trial ever, and has deeply divided the country. His supporters believe he has been unfairly targeted by political opponents in the current government, while others see the trial as proof that Mongolia is finally taking graft seriously.

The elections committee’s decision was met with anger by the former president’s family, who say that he still has the right to run for office under Mongolian law because he has not been convicted of any crime.

“It is ridiculous,” said Batshugar Enkhbayar, son of the former president. “What the elections committee has been doing is outside of the law and their jurisdiction … the elections committee is creating new laws for itself which is an illegal act.”

Mr Enkhbayar’s party had been on track to win enough seats to be the third-largest party in parliament, a linchpin position because the two largest parties will probably have to ally with smaller parties to form a majority after the election, according to political analysts.

Mr Enkhbayar, whose trial is set to begin on June 12, says the allegations against him are politically motivated and timed to get him out of the way before the elections later this month.

In May he went on a 10-day hunger strike without food or water to protest at what he says was unfair treatment and irregular access to lawyers and family. Mr Enkhbayar is still recovering from the hunger strike and moved out of hospital earlier this week.Mr Enkhbayar plans to appeal the elections committee’s decision by bringing a lawsuit to the constitutional court, his son said.