Ruling party's majority slashed in Mongolian election

Mongolia's ruling People's Party has come out on top in the country's parliamentary elections but its majority has been slashed amid strong opposition gains, preliminary results show.

With almost all ballots counted after Friday's vote, the centre-left People's Party was set to secure a narrow majority by taking 68 of the 126 seats in parliament.

In the previous election, the party had won 62 seats in the then 76-seat parliament.

Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene declared his People's Party the winner of what was the ninth parliamentary election in Mongolia since the country became a democracy after the end of the Cold War in 1990.

The centre-right Democratic Party made significant gains in the vote, garnering 42 seats, while the conservative HUN Party won eight seats.

Voter turnout stood at some 69 per cent with more than two million eligible to cast their ballots, state news agency Montsame reported.

Mongolia, a vast landlocked country populated by only some 3.4 million, is considered an important democratic buffer sitting between China and Russia.

The country has tried to maintain a balanced relationship with its powerful neighbours, upon whom it is highly economically dependent.

Almost all of Mongolia's crude oil imports come from Russia and more than 90 per cent of the country's total exports go to China, mainly in the form of coal.

Domestically, Mongolia has long struggled with political corruption, leading to a decline in the population's trust in the establishment.