The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Ulan Bator

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, once a celebratedleader of a peaceful revolution that ended 70 years of communist rule in Mongolia, cuts a defiant figure after being accused of triggering deadly riots. The Democratic Party that he heads refuses to accept the validity of Sunday's elections which his former communist rivals won in a landslide.

Prime Minister Sanj Bayar has blamed him for this week's unrest by making vote-rigging allegations.

'We did not call them, we did not say anything,' Elbegdorj told AFP in an interview when discussing charges that he instigated riots in which five people were killed as thousands took to the streets of the capital, Ulan Bator.

To further back his peaceful credentials, the 45-year-old former journalist referred to the relatively peaceful political environment that he had helped engineer during Mongolia's past 18 years as a democracy.

'No single bullet was fired, no single window was shattered for 18 years. Our people never use violence,' he said, speaking confidently in English at his party headquarters.

Elbegdorj, who has served twice as prime minister, instead laid the blame for the violence on the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), which ruled the nation when it was a Soviet satellite and won the weekend poll.

'They first steal the election, steal votes from the people and they usually change election results,' Elbegdorj said, outlining the methods he believed the former communist MPRP used.

'When there is violence, there is usually force, then they call a curfew and introduce an authoritarian system,' he said, alleging his rivals wanted to bring back an autocratic system by rigging the elections.