There was no outright winner in Mongolia’s presidential election on Monday, forcing the country’s first ever second-round run-off between the two leading candidates, the country’s General Election Committee said on Tuesday. Election turnout was 68.27 percent with a total of 1.9 million voters; 7209 of these were Mongolians living in foreign countries. During the election, Kh.Battulga from the Mongolian Democratic Party won 38.11 percent of the vote, followed by M.Enkhbold from the Mongolian People’s Party with 30.32 percent and S.Ganbaatar from Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party came in close behind with 30.19 percent.

According to the Law on Elections in Mongolia, if none of the candidates, get more than 50%, the leading two leading will go on to a second head-to-head re-run to be held within 14 days.  The second polling will, therefore, take place on 9^th of July, the day before Mongolia’s traditional Naadam festival. Mongolians living abroad will be able to vote on 4^th of July.