Ulaanbaatar (AFP) — Mongolia’s parliament is expected to vote Monday on whether to keep its fracturing coalition government in office, amid protests against the country’s embattled prime minister over alleged corruption.

The landlocked democracy in northern Asia has struggled with corruption for decades, and many in the country say a wealthy elite is hoarding the profits of a years-long coal mining boom at the expense of the general population.

Those tensions resurfaced last month after reports of allegedly lavish spending by the son of Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene sparked protests in the capital Ulaanbaatar.

Oyun-Erdene is due to address the State Great Khural — the Mongolian parliament — on Monday ahead of an expected “confidence vote” to decide whether the government he heads should continue, according to the prime minister’s office.

It would mark the first time a Mongolian prime minister has submitted a confidence motion in their own government and raises the specter of Oyun-Erdene’s resignation if he loses.

Hundreds of young protesters crowded onto the square outside the parliament building on Monday morning, marching with white placards and chanting: “It is easy to resign.”

Organizer Ulamsaikhan Otgon, 24, said the weeks of demonstrations “have showcased throughout that young people are very sensitive to unfairness” in society.

Yroolt, a 30-year-old content creator, said it was the second time he had attended.

“The reason I came is because I want a different life, a different society,” he told an AFP reporter, declining to share his last name out of privacy concerns.

“We all know injustice is deeply embedded in our society but it’s time for change.”

Mongolia has been ruled by a three-way coalition government since elections last year resulted in a significantly reduced majority for Oyun-Erdene’s Mongolian People’s Party (MPP).

But the MPP evicted the second-largest group, the Democratic Party (DP), from the coalition agreement last month after some younger DP lawmakers backed calls for Oyun-Erdene’s resignation.

The move pushed the country’s fractious political scene into further uncertainty.

Since Oyun-Erdene took power in 2021, Mongolia has plummeted in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

The allegations against Oyun-Erdene’s family have hit a nerve at a time when many in the country are also worried about their economic prospects and rising living costs.