KYODO NEWS - Jul 8, 2017 - 19:20 | World, All

A former martial arts star claimed victory Saturday over a career politician in Mongolia's presidential runoff election, as many voters are tired of the resource-dependent economy being mired in an extended slump.

Khaltmaa Battulga of the main opposition Democratic Part was quoted by local media as saying he will immediately work hard toward his pledge of overcoming the difficulties facing the country.

Battulga, a 54-year-old business tycoon and a former world champion in the Soviet combat sport Sambo, led the counting with 50.7 percent of the votes with about 87 percent counted so far, the General Election Commission said.

Miyegombo Enkhbold of the Mongolian People's Party had received 41 percent of the votes in the election seen as a referendum on the government's policy of implementing austerity measures as the country of 3 million, landlocked between China and Russia, struggles to pull its economy out of crisis.

Mongolia formerly enjoyed robust growth, with its gross domestic product growth peaking at 17.5 percent in 2011. But following a sharp fall in global commodity prices, it is now saddled with heavy debt and its economy grew only 1 percent last year.

The government has rolled out fiscal belt-tightening measures in exchange for securing earlier this year a $5.5 billion International Monetary Fund-led bailout package.

The winner of Mongolia's first ever runoff will succeed President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj of the Democratic Party, whose second and final four-year term in office ends this month.

Voter turnout for the runoff, which took place Friday, stood at 60.41 percent with about 1.2 million votes cast, the commission said, adding about 8.3 percent of the counted ballots were blank, a protest by some voters over the choice of candidates.

The commission said completion of the counting has been delayed as a flight carrying ballot papers from Europe is not expected to arrive in Ulan Bator until around midnight.

Battulga, a resource nationalist who has criticized the government's spending cuts and Mongolia's economic overdependence on China, garnered the most votes in the first round of the presidential election last week, but there was no definitive winner as no candidate secured the required majority.

Enkhbold finished a close second in the three-horse race on June 26, although his party won a sweeping victory in a parliamentary election about a year ago.

Enkhbold, the 52-year-old chief of the ruling party, parliament speaker and former prime minister, was tipped as the frontrunner before the election. But he struggled to connect with voters as allegations of corrupt land reforms during his time as mayor of Ulan Bator, the capital city, hung over the campaign's final weeks.