By Irja Halasz
ULAN BATOR (Reuters) - Five people were killed and morethan 300 injured in a riot in Mongolia's capital among peoplealleging fraud in a weekend election, the country's justiceminister said on Wednesday.
President Nambariin Enkhbayar declared a state of emergencyfor four days late on Tuesday, after protesters clashed withpolice and set fire to the headquarters of the ruling party.
At least one foreigner, a Japanese citizen, was among thoseinjured in the rioting, the justice minister told a newsconference.
About 700 people were detained for their part in theviolence.
The chaos threatens to further delay deals that couldunlock vast reserves of coal, uranium and other resourcesbeneath the country's vast steppes and deserts, and are seen askey to lifting the isolated Central Asian state out of poverty.
"The president has declared a state of emergency accordingto the constitution ... from 11:30 p.m. on July 1 for a periodof four days," television said.
The state of emergency means protests are banned andauthorises security forces to break up protests using force.Central areas have been put under curfew from 10 p.m. to 8 p.m.and alcohol sales are banned over the period.
Riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets againstprotesters on Tuesday night, but struggled to bring undercontrol crowds, who threw stones, burned cars and gathered intheir thousands in the main square of the capital Ulan Bator toprotest against alleged election fraud.
Rioting continued into early Wednesday morning. Witnessesreported hearing gunfire. Conditions calmed at around 3 a.m.after convoys of police and armoured vehicles arrived todisperse rioters, witnesses said.
CHARRED BUILDING
The blaze at the party headquarters had been extinguished,and state television showed MPRP Prime Minister SanjaagiinBayar touring the charred building and folding his hands inprayer.
An uneasy calm enveloped the city on Wednesday morning witha heavy police presence guarding government buildings.
Mongolia's election committee has yet to give the finalresult of Sunday's vote, but preliminary results give theruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) a clearmajority in the 76-seat parliament.
The General Election Committee of Mongolia vowed to presson with vote-counting.
"The state of emergency has no impact on the (committee's)work, which is continuing. We are hoping to get results outtoday," its deputy chief Bayarsaikhan told Reuters.
The leader of the opposition Democratic Party TsakhiagiinElbegdorj rejected the results, but international observers saythat overall the election was free and fair.
The Democratic Party had called its candidates from aroundthe country to Ulan Bator, where they intended to presentdetails of election fraud.
The US embassy in Ulan Bator said it was "deeply concerned"by the violence and called for both parties to work together.
Analysts and foreign business executives in Mongoliadownplayed the violence, saying it was not supported by themajority of Mongolians and describing it as teething troublesfor a young democracy.
"The outskirts of Ulan Bator have a lot of poor andfrustrated youngsters who would use any pretext to get tostreets and participate in any turmoil," said Sumati, from thepolling organisation Sant Maral Foundation.
Investors have pinned hopes on a majority government beingable to shunt through long-delayed amendments to the MineralsLaw and the passage of the draft investment deal that wouldallow the Gobi desert Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project to goahead.
The agreement which developers Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tintosay would increase Mongolia's GDP by 34 percent, could clearthe way for future deals to extract its resources.
Ivanhoe said it had no comment on the rioting.
Although ruled by an unstable coalition government for fouryears, the country of vast grasslands and deserts is oftenviewed as a rare example of democracy in Central Asia.
But new election rules that changed the first-past-the-postsystem to one of multi-member constituencies have led toprocedural problems and some confusion over how votes should becounted.
(Writing by Ian Ransom; Editing by David Fogarty)
