Mongolia coalition Government teeters after resignations

ULAN BATOR - Mongolia's coalition government is standing on the brink of collapse after more than half the country's cabinet ministers, members of the majority Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, resigned yesterday.

The move, announced by the ministers in a statement, was sparked by a slowdown in economic growth and rising inflation since Prime Minister Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj of the Democrats was elected in 2004, observers said.

"This is not coming out of the blue," Tjalling Halbertsma, a UN adviser to the office of Mongolia's president, said.

"It seems to be an ongoing process where people feel that the government is somewhat in limbo and not able to govern the country and continue the growth of the economy as we have seen the last few years."

The government has yet to issue an official reaction.

Mongolia's parliament, the Great Hural, will vote today whether or not to accept the resignations.

With the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), which ruled the country for much of the 20th century as a Soviet satellite, occupying half of parliament, an acceptance vote was likely, meaning Elbegdorj's government would have to step down, Halbertsma said.

In such a case, his government would take on an interim role until a new leadership was formed by one of the parties swaying the balance in parliament or, "in the worst case", by new elections, Halbertsma said.

Power shifts are not new to the vast, wind-swept country, once one of the world's greatest empires under Genghis Khan and now one of the most stable democracies in Central Asia.

Four governments were formed in four years the last time Democrats were in power, between 1996 and 2000.

Elbegdorj was among a group of young writers, artists, university teachers and students who rose up against seven decades of Soviet-backed communist rule and demanded democratic elections in 1990.

- REUTERS