Khaltmaagiin Battulga

Khaltmaagiin Battulga (; , , also referred to as Battulga Khaltmaa; born 3 March 1963) is a Mongolian politician and sambo wrestler who served as the 5th President of Mongolia from 2017 to 2021. He served as Member of the State Great Khural from 2004 to 2016 and Minister of Roads, Transportation, Construction and Urban Development from 2008 to 2012. Before his career in politics, Battulga was a sambo wrestling champion. He was the Democratic Party's candidate in the 2017 presidential election and was elected President with 50.6% in the run-off, the first-ever run-off election in modern Mongolian history. Mongolians are sharply divided about his role in the 2019 Mongolian constitutional crisis. Background Battulga was born on March 3, 1963, in Ulaanbaatar. Battulga is a second child of three children. His father and mother are both from Bayankhongor Province. The family was allocated a traditional ger in the Yarmag district in Ulaanbaatar after they lost everything in the flood of Tuul River in 1966. In 1978, he graduated from the 10-year 34th secondary school in Ulaanbaatar. In 1982 he graduated from the School of Fine Arts of Mongolia with a degree in painting. While studying at the arts school, Battulga sold his paintings to tourists around the Bayangol Hotel area. Business In 1990, Battulga started sewing and selling jeans locally and in Hungary. He saved $600 to buy a video camera and start an export-import business trading electronics from Singapore to Mongolia, Russia, and Eastern Europe. Battulga was fascinated with The Godfather and named his first company Genco, the name of the olive oil importing company in the film. Genco acquired controlling interests during the privatization of state-owned assets such as Bayangol Hotel and meat-processing factory Makh-Impex in 1997 and 1999 respectively.