Ruling party defeated in Mongolian parliament elections

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — The opposition Mongolian People’s Party won a decisive victory in parliamentary elections in the landlocked nation, where a fall in commodity prices has sent the economy into a sharp decline.

The MPP is the former communist party that ruled Mongolia for 70 years before the country’s transition to democracy and a free market economy after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

Rising unemployment, billions of dollars in government debt and disillusionment with the political system were considered major factors in the election in the nation of just 3 million sandwiched between China and Russia.