ULAN BATOR, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Mongolian parliament on Friday passed an amendment to the law on dismissing the parliament speaker, paving the way to remove current parliament speaker Miyegombo Enkhbold from his post due to the allegation of abusing power.

The draft bill initiated by Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga was approved by a vote of 89.8 percent in the 76-seat parliament, according to the parliament's press office.

According to the amendment, which will come into force on Jan. 25, the parliament speaker must step down if more than half of the 76 lawmakers submit a proposal to ask him to leave.

It will be the sixth legal ground to dismiss the parliament speaker. The other five, namely, are death, severe disease, appointment to another position, guilty of a crime, and decision of dismissal from the constitutional court.

Audio recordings were made public last year that some officials of the ruling Mongolian People's Party, including Enkhbold, allegedly used their government positions as a tool to run in the parliamentary elections in 2016.

In mid-December, more than half of the lawmakers sent an official letter to Enkhbold, urging him to voluntarily step down. They also have boycotted plenary sessions and meetings of standing committees of the parliament over the past six weeks.

However, Enkhbold said he will not resign and insisted he has done nothing wrong. "The demand is contrary to the law on dismissing a speaker of the parliament," he told protesters last week. Enditem

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