MONGOLIANS went to the polls across their sprawling, sparsely-populated country on Wednesday as it struggles to benefit from its vast natural resources amid disputes over foreign investment and slumping demand from neighbouring China.

Squeezed between Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Communist China, Mongolia prides itself on its democracy, but voters expressed frustration with the country’s poor governance and weakened economy. Many said they feared a repeat of 2008 riots that followed claims of election tampering.

The contest largely comes down to a choice between the ruling Democratic Party and the opposition Mongolian People’s Party. Both their campaigns have been heavy on bromides about economic development but light on concrete proposals for tackling voter concerns, including improving the country’s educational and health care systems.

Across the country trucks with mobile ballot boxes crisscrossed the vast steppe to enable the sick and elderly to vote, while herders and others streamed to polling stations in set up in gers (traditional Mongolian tents). But while enormous efforts have been made to ensure participation in even the most isolated areas, enthusiasm for voting has waned in the 26 years since the young democracy threw off the yoke of Soviet influence.

Turnout has declined each election cycle, a trend that experts attribute to increased scepticism in the country’s political class. “As the economic crises persist, there’s considerable mistrust in the political system,” said Morris Rossabi, an expert on Mongolia at Columbia University, adding that voters were “facing increasing disillusionment with political parties”.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2016