By William Foerderer Infante

William Foerderer Infante is The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in Mongolia. To read his recent comments on this unusual episode of violence in Mongolia on CNN.com, click here, and in the Los Angeles Times, click here. He can be reached at binfante@asiafound.org.

Just after noon on July 1st, hundreds of demonstrators gathered on Sukhbaatar square in central Ulaanbatar to protest the June 29th election results, which they alleged were fraudulent. Throughout the afternoon, the demonstration grew in size to more than 8,000, and then erupted into violence around 7pm.

36 hours after the polls closed, the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) led the balloting by a significant margin. Opposition parties, including the Democratic Party and the newly-formed Citizen’s Union, launched the gathering and encouraged citizens to stand up for justice and for free and fair elections. They demanded a recount in districts where malfeasance was said to have occurred. But the demonstration spiraled wildly out of control in the early evening, and was uncontained by police wearing riot gear.
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By Shahnawaz Mahmood

Shahnawaz Mahmood is a Senior Program Officer for The Asia Foundation in Pakistan.

Roti, Kapra, aur Makan — or Bread, Clothing, and Shelter — this has been the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)’s slogan to woo the electorate since the 1970’s. While the PPP emerged from February’s elections with the largest majority, it did not win sufficient seats to claim control of the government and was forced to form a coalition, mainly with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Given the still unresolved question of the restoration of the judiciary, including the Chief Justice of Pakistan and other judges who were dismissed by President Musharraf last year, the PML-N could withdraw from the coalition and the government’s center could collapse — unless the Musharraf-backed Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) were to intercede. This political uncertainty surrounding the new government, combined with the worsening security situation, has inflicted a great toll on economic growth as investors are becoming wary. This will make providing such essentials as bread, clothing, and shelter increasingly difficult.
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The Asia Foundation’s Director for Economics Programs in Indonesia, Neil McCulloch, is quoted in a July 2nd article on Indonesians’ sudden focus on agriculture as a result of the global food crisis. To read it, click here.

In a Letter to the Editor, The Asia Foundation’s Country representative in Mongolia, William Foerderer Infante, responds to the Michael Auslin’s June 24th op-ed “Genghis Putin” stating, “Mongolia’s national and economic security are anchored in diverse and balanced trade relations, and prior investments won’t necessarily give Russia an inside track for the future.” To read it, click here.