Mongolia may return to coalition government after official results confirm setback for ruling party

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — Mongolia's ruling party won a much smaller majority in a parliamentary election than it had held previously, according to official results released on Monday, raising the possibility of a return to a coalition government for the first time in eight years.

The Mongolian People's Party took 68 seats in the 126-seat body in Friday's nationwide vote, while the opposition Democratic Party won 42, according to a certified list of winners posted on the General Election Commission website. The remaining 16 seats were divided among smaller parties.

The commission presented the final results to the country's president on Monday shortly before handing out membership cards to the newly elected lawmakers at a ceremony in the State Palace, a grand building in the capital city that houses the parliament chamber and the offices of the president and the prime minister.

The ceremony, held in a palace auditorium, was a time for hearty handshakes and backslapping embraces as lawmakers congratulated each other on their victories. As their names were read out, they went on stage one-by-one to receive a card in a folded, wallet-size protector that certified them as members of parliament.

The People's Party won overwhelmingly in the previous two elections, taking 62 of 76 seats in the previous race in 2020, and ruled the country singlehandedly. A constitutional revision last year added 50 seats to the parliament.

Mongolian media reports said that the ruling party was discussing formulas for a coalition with both the Democratic Party and the HUN party, which won eight seats. Cabinet positions would be divvied up among the coalition members, the reports said. There was no official confirmation of the discussions.

The last coalition government in Mongolia was one led by the Democratic Party from 2012 to 2016. After eight years of one-party rule, this year's election showed a desire among voters to return to a more balanced system.

Ahead of Monday's ceremony, a former Democratic Party lawmaker who started her own party two years ago held a news conference to criticize allegedly unfair campaign tactics by the People's Party.

Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, the founder and leader of the Civic Unity Party, accused the People's Party of using state power and access to a government database and employees to give itself an unfair advantage in the race.

“The Civic Unity Party cannot and will not congratulate the Mongolian People’s Party for its victory,” she said. "It’s not real victory. ... It’s a result of intimidation and repression.”

She spoke with five other candidates from her party, which did not win any seats in the election.

Mongolia transitioned to democracy in the early 1990s after more than six decades as a one-party communist state. The vast and sparsely populated landlocked country sits between China and Russia.

Ruling Mongolian People's Party lawmaker Damdinnyam Gongor is congratulated as he attends a ceremony to handout Parliamentary membership card to newly elected lawmakers at the Mongolian Government Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Newly elected opposition Democratic Party lawmaker J. Bayasgalan holds up his Parliamentary membership cards during a ceremony at the Mongolian Government Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Journalists watch as newly elected lawmakers walk on stage to receive their parliamentary membership cards at the Mongolian Government Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Ruling Mongolian People's Party lawmaker Damdinnyam Gongor is congratulated on stage upon receiving his Parliamentary membership card handed out to newly elected lawmakers at the Mongolian Government Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Attendees stand for the anthem during a ceremony to handout Parliamentary membership cards to newly elected lawmakers at the Mongolian Government Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Brackets, busted.

The handful of remaining perfect brackets in the NCAA Tournament busted out on Sunday, ending the hopes of millions against exceptionally long odds.

The final perfect brackets on Yahoo Sports and CBS Sports were shredded with Saturday's games. Top-seeded Florida's 77-75 win over two-time reigning national champion UConn continued the carnage on Sunday.

Duke's 89-66 win over Baylor left one remaining perfect bracket on ESPN's tracker and it didn't last long. That bracket imploded with Kentucky's 84-75 win over Illinois, creating 24.3 million imperfect brackets.

The Wildcats' win also killed off the last bracket of the 34 million on the NCAA’s platform.

Michigan's 91-79 win over Texas A&M on Saturday night shredded the final perfect Yahoo Sports bracket. Poor Shawno had been correct on every pick with his Grand Bracket until the fifth-seeded Wolverines sent the fourth-seeded Aggies home.

CBS Sports lost its last perfect bracket with Saturday night's games, including No. 6 seed BYU's two-point win over third-seeded Wisconsin and Texas Tech's 77-64 win over No. 11 seed Drake.

Creighton was listed as ESPN’s top bracket buster after its 89-75 win over Louisville in Thursday's first game, knocking out 13,339,089.

On the other end of the spectrum, ESPN reported that every pick was wrong on 30 of its brackets — a nearly impossible feat in its own right even if a contestant were trying to pick all losers.

In the world of office pools, one person who works for one of the companies Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns predicted the games well enough to win $1 million. Berkshire said Monday that the FlightSafety International employee correctly picked 31 of the 32 games in the opening round, including the first 29 games in a row. Eleven other people won $100,000 prizes in the companywide pool for Berkshire's 392,000 employees by picking 31 winners in the first round.

This year marks the first time a Berkshire employee has won the top prize, although Buffett's company has routinely been handing out $100,000 for the best bracket every year. Buffett tweaked the rules of the contest this year to make it easier for someone to win the million-dollar prize.

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

Purdue forward Camden Heide (23) hangs onto the ball while colliding with McNeese State guard DJ Richards Jr. (2) during the first half in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Clemson guard Jaeden Zackery, left, react after a loss to McNeese State in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)