Mongolia's parliament accepted the resignation of Prime Minister
Miyeegombiin Enkhbold, who handed in his notice after losing the
post of ruling party chairman last month.
Current party chief Sanj Bayar was chosen, as expected, to replace
Enkhbold, promising to reform the once-communist ruling Mongolian
People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) and to eradicate corruption,
political sources said.
Enkhbold, elected prime minister in January 2006, was pressed to
resign by party peers fed up with a weak government and general
loss of confidence in the MPRP, which only has a tiny majority in
parliament.
Sanj Bayar said this week there would be a new cabinet once he
became prime minister, but a big shake-up was unlikely so close to
a general election scheduled for summer 2008.
The MPRP ruled Mongolia for much of the 20th century as a one-party
Soviet satellite, but has since embraced market reforms.
Mongolia's lively democracy has caused valuable mining deals to get
bogged down in political discussion.
Ivanhoe Mines , which is part-owned by Rio Tinto , says its Oyu
Tolgoi copper and gold project would increase Mongolia's gross
domestic product by 34 percent.
But parliament has yet to ratify the draft investment agreement,
the key hurdle before the Gobi Desert project can go ahead.
The deal may clear the way for a raft of other agreements to extract Mongolia's resources, which include uranium and coal.
