Mongolia's presidential candidate from the ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) Ukhnaa Khurelsukh won Wednesday's presidential election, the country's General Election Commission (GEC) said Thursday. 
  
"A total of 1,216,246 people cast their votes in the election, or 59.35 percent of all eligible voters. The candidate from the MPP, Khurelsukh, obtained 67.76 percent of the votes," Purevee Delgernaran, head of the GEC, said at a press conference. 
  
The official noted that all paper ballots of the election were counted by hand to avoid any disputes related to ballot counting machines. 
  
Mongolia, with a population of around 3.3 million, has held eight presidential elections since 1993. Among them, the first presidential election had the highest voter turnout at 92.70 percent, while this year's election had the lowest voter turnout rate. 
  
However, Khurelsukh, who served as Mongolia's prime minister from October 2017 to January 2021, won the highest percent of votes in the history of the country's presidential elections. 

Khurelsukh said in a speech that the presidency was a "huge responsibility." 

"I understand that all of the Mongolian people who voted in this election are expressing hope that we will complete the work we have started ... and that we will do more for our country," he said. 

Khurelsukh will replace incumbent President Khaltmaa Battulga. 

(With input from Xinhua, Reuters)