By Lindsay Beck
ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - On horseback, foot and motorbike,Mongolians voted in a tight election on Sunday in the hope ofproducing a government with a strong mandate to give thecountry an economic boost by tapping into huge mineral wealth.
A survey showed the ruling Mongolian People's DemocraticParty (MPRP) with a slight edge over the Democratic Party, butif neither wins a majority in the 76-seat parliament thesmaller parties could be the real power-brokers.
"It's important that somebody who is capable of doingsomething, not just talking, is elected," said EnkhtaivanSaaral, 38, who like many Mongolians herds goats and sheep onthe country's rolling grasslands and lives in a round felttent.
Polling stations opened at 12 a.m. British time on Sundayand are due to close at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
The last election four years ago resulted in a hungparliament, leaving the parties to scramble to form agovernment to rule the vast, landlocked country whose empireunder Genghis Khan once extended west as far as Hungary.
The unstable coalition meant the country has been throughthree prime ministers since then, the latest being Sanj Bayarof the MPRP, the party that ruled Mongolia for much of the lastcentury as a Soviet satellite.
The challenge this time for voters is to elect a governmentwith enough of a mandate to pass revisions to Mongolia'sminerals law and ratify an investment agreement that wouldallow the Gobi desert Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project to gohead.
The accord, which developers Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tintopredict would increase Mongolia's GDP by 34 percent, couldclear the way for future deals to extract the country'sresources, which include coal and uranium.
