By Lindsay Beck
ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - The ruling Mongolian People'sRevolutionary Party (MPRP) appeared poised to take a majorityin parliament on Monday after a tight election race, giving ita mandate to approve mining deals that could transform thecountry.
An independent polling group said the MPRP, under PrimeMinister Sanjaagiin Bayar, had taken at least 44 seats, enoughto give it a comfortable majority in the 76-seat parliament, orGreat Hural.
The party itself would not give figures, saying it waswaiting for the final tallies, but Bayar showed confidence witha near-victory speech.
"If it is official that our party has won, the MPRP willform a cabinet to do all we promised in our campaign platform,"Bayar told a packed news conference, where supporters applaudedand gave him a standing ovation.
"I'm expressing my gratitude to Mongolian voters for theirtrust and support," he said.
The main opposition Democratic Party was not available forcomment and Mongolia's election committee said there would beno official result until Tuesday at the earliest.
But Luvsandendev Sumati, director of the Sant MaralFoundation, a group that does polling and surveys, said theMPRP, which ruled Mongolia as a Soviet satellite through muchof the last century, had 38 seats in the countryside and atleast six in the capital, Ulan Bator.
"It's already is a comfortable majority," he said.
That would give it the strength to ratify a draftinvestment agreement that would give the go-ahead to IvanhoeMines and Rio Tinto to develop the massive Oyu Tolgoi copperand gold project.
COALITION GOVERNMENTS
The previous election resulted in a hung parliament and aseries of coalition governments, none strong enough to seethrough the deal.
If Oyu Tolgoi is approved, it could open the door to otherdeals for coal and uranium that lie beneath the vast steppesand deserts of the country whose empire under Genghis Khanstretched as far west as Hungary and where many are nomadicherders.
"The MPRP's greater governing experience, party discipline,and policy coherence make breakthroughs on mining and otherissues likely to occur more quickly if the MPRP continues inpower under Prime Minister Bayar," Kyle Jaros, an analyst atthe Eurasia Group, said in a research note ahead of Sunday'spoll.
The new government will also face the task of tacklinginflation at its highest levels in over a decade, due to itsreliance on its neighbours China and Russia for food and fuelamid soaring international prices.
Some smaller parties complained of irregularities and amove away from the first-past-the-post system to multi-memberconstituencies meant there was some confusion over counting.
But international observers said overall the vote inMongolia, which has been praised as a model of democracy inCentral Asia, was free and fair.
"From our observations, the process appears to have beenfair and transparent," said Bill Infante, the Asia Foundation'scountry representative in Mongolia.
Mongolians expressed a desire for a clear majority andstable governance, no matter who won the election.
"People who are capable of acting should be in government,"said Munkhjargal Lkhavgaa, 63. "Then maybe things will moveforward."
(Additional reporting by Reuters Television; Editing byAlex Richardson)
