Ascending to the Prime Ministership of Mongolia after the somewhat surprise resignation of his predecessor, Oyun-Erdene won an 88-per-cent majority of the vote and took office in the State Grand Khural (ie parliament) in the capital Ulaanbaatar on 27 January 2021.
The 40-year-old Harvard-educated Oyun-Erdene is seen as very much a change in the generational guard from the old-school politicians who came to prominence in the Soviet era. He replaces fellow Mongolian People’s Party (MPRP) member Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, who faced popular discontent over Covid-19 treatment measures that quickly spilled over into broader complaints about squeezing democratic rights and institutions.
