Mongolians Cast Presidential Ballots

More than a million Mongolians began voting Sunday in the country’s first direct presidential election.

A total of 1,183,000 voters were eligible to cast ballots in 1,535 polling stations scattered across this vast Central Asian state, which is still struggling with the economic turmoil that has followed its decision to drop communism.

Election results are not expected for several days because of poor communications and transportation. Political analysts expect the election to produce a narrow victory for incumbent President Punsalmaagiyn Ochirbat, who defected from the ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party and is running for an opposition coalition.

Rival Lodongiyn Tudev, a conservative newspaper editor who displaced Ochirbat as the candidate of the former Communist Party, has used his party’s stronger organization and deeper pockets to close a wide popularity gap in the last weeks of the campaign.

Good weather was expected to help boost the final turnout close to the levels of more than 90% recorded in democratic parliamentary elections in 1990 and 1992.

Mongolians take their voting seriously, with women appearing in traditional bright silken cloaks.