Since November, Mongolia has seen a wave of protests demanding the resignation of Miyegombyn Enkhbold as the speaker of Mongolia’s parliament over his alleged involvement in a series of corruption scandals. The public pressure helped motivate a new law empowering parliament to force him out, which the legislature did on January 29.
The latest major political protest took place January 10 at Sukhbaatar Square and targeted Enkhbold. Like the previous protest on December 27, there were tens of thousands of demonstrators there to protest both corruption generally and the accusations against Enkhbold specifically. Opponents allege that Enkhbold runs a secretive group of leaders from across both major political parties known as MANAN, or “fog” in Mongolian, which has become synonymous with a shadowy oligarchy.
As one protester, 56-year-old Ganhuyag, said, “I think this year will be year of protest, because if we don’t stop MANAN, our country will not develop.”
Tuguldur Chuluunbaatar contributed to this report.