The prime minister of Mongolia resigned a day after protests against his government’s Covid-19 control measures burst into the capital Ulaanbaatar.
Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa presented his resignation and a proposal to dissolve his government on Thursday, after hundreds gathered outside the parliament building to protest the policies. Parliament, which is controlled by the Khurelsukh Mongolian People’s Party, voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to accept his resignation.
Photographer: Mikhail Klimentyev / AP Photo
In a speech on Thursday, the prime minister accused President Battulga Khaltmaa of the rival Democratic Party of orchestrating the protests. Battulga, whose term ends later this year, expressed shock at Khurelsukh’s statements in a separate speech.
“I wonder and wonder why the Prime Minister of Mongolia did such an act that undermined the confidence of the Mongolian people, undermined national unity and openly slandered the President of Mongolia,” said Battulga, according to a transcript on the presidential website .
The protests erupted after a video that appeared to show a mother hurriedly discharged from a local maternity hospital in a bathrobe for having tested positive for coronavirus was widely released online. Protesters gathered in parliament to protest their treatment on Wednesday, some wearing only bathrobes and slippers to show solidarity with the woman.
Although the protests were not unusually large, they lasted until the winter night, where temperatures can drop to -40 degrees Celsius (-40 Fahrenheit). Protesters said they were more upset by the extension of the blockades and restrictions on movement, as well as the ban on international travel.
The vast country of 3.3 million people – landlocked between Russia and China – has so far prevented the massive coronavirus outbreaks that have bothered others. Mongolia has reported less than 1,600 infections since March, with 526 active cases as of Thursday.
(Adds resignation accepted by legislators in the third paragraph)