Mongolia will elect a new parliament this week,Mongolia Parliament  Election, Ulaanbaatar ,  Democratic Party, Tsakhia Elbegdorj, Genghis Khan

Mongolia will elect a new parliament this week hoping it can reverse four straight years of slowing growth, against a backdrop of concerns about an erosion of democratic values in a country sandwiched between autocratic China and Russia.

With just three million people, this remote land, best known as the birthplace of the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan, has stood as an oasis of democracy, surrounded by single-party dominated regimes.

Mongolia's political transformation since a peaceful revolution in 1990 has been a big plus for foreign investors eyeing up its rich mineral resources.

But an abrupt economic slowdown since 2012 has stirred controversy over the role played by international mining firms like Rio Tinto (LON:RIO), which last month finally approved a $5.3 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper mine extension plan, having settled a long dispute with the government a year ago.

The mining slump was still likely to cost the ruling Democratic Party seats in Wednesday's election, according to opinion polls.

"The Democratic Party is 100 percent guilty for the economy's collapse. The lives of citizens have deteriorated so much," said Darjaa Sovood, leading a small demonstration against the Democratic Party in front of Mongolia's parliament house on Sunday.

The resource-rich country, nicknamed "Mine-golia" during the boom years, has struggled to adapt to a changing environment where China has tempered its appetite for coal and copper and commodities are no longer valued as highly.

Economic growth has fallen from 17.5 percent in 2011, the year before the Democratic Party took power, to the IMF's projected 0.4 percent for this year.

src:investing.com