Troops pulled back from the streets of the Mongolian capital on Saturday and political leaders called for calm ahead of the lifting of emergency rule that was declared after rioting over alleged election fraud.
There was no sign of the tension that gripped the capital, Ulan Bator, just a few days ago, when stone-throwing mobs set the ruling party's headquarters on fire in a night of violence that killed five people and prompted the president to declare emergency rule for the first time in Mongolia's history. Emergency rule was due to be lifted at 1530 GMT, exactly four days after it was declared. International observers say the vote in a country that shook off decades of Soviet influence in 1990 and embraced democratic reform was largely free and fair.