ULAN BATOR (AFP) -- Mongolia's ex-communists moved closer to governing Tuesday after nominating their new prime minister, as they stressed the nation would maintain its military alliance with the United States.

Miyeegombo Enkhbold, a former Ulan Bator mayor, was chosen by his Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), winning 187 votes at a party conference with just one against, said Otgonbayar, the party's permanent secretary. "Enkhbold's political experience is good," Otgonbayar told AFP. "He's known as someone who doesn't talk much, but does the work."

Enkhbold, aged in his early 40s, is also the MPRP's chairman and had been regarded as the favorite for the position.

Enkhbold's nomination will be presented later Tuesday to the nation's president, Nambar Enkhbayar, also an MPRP member, and parliament could be voting on Enkhbold as early as Wednesday, Otgonbayar said.

Otgonbayar said the new cabinet, which will be selected in the coming days, will maintain its existing foreign policies, and its military presence in Iraq, Afghanistan and Sierre Leone will not change.

"We will stick to the policy of support of the war against terrorism," said Otgonbayar.

Mongolia has deployed a regiment of 120 soldiers in Iraq for a little more than two years as well as a smaller force consisting of about 10 officers in Afghanistan for about the same period, he said.

In addition, Mongolia has a regiment of some 100 soldiers under UN control in Sierre Leone, who will also remain in place, he said.

As hundreds of anti-corruption protesters walked through the streets of Ulan Bator Monday, the MPRP was holed up at party headquarters deciding which direction it planned to take the impoverished nation.

Leading members of the MPRP, which hopes to head a "government of national unity," agreed in the talks that "drastic measures" be taken to improve the living standards of the Mongolian people.

These measures include a decrease in the value-added tax, and an extension of tax holidays currently enjoyed by foreign investors to domestic investors as well, Otgonbayar said.

The MPRP, which ruled Mongolia for nearly 70 years when the country was a Soviet satellite, engineered the ouster over the weekend of prime minister Tsakhia Elbegdorj by walking out on a coalition government.

It has called on all parties to participate in a new coalition government, but has so far not received a positive response from Elbegdorj's Democratic Party, a fact that Otgonbayar said no longer mattered.

"We have the required majority in parliament," he said, pointing to the support of the Motherland Party, People's Party and Republican Party, as well as individual members of the Democratic Party.

The MPRP itself has 38 of 76 seats in parliament but, with the extra support it has gained in days of tense negotiations, will be able to command a total of 48 or 49 seats, he said.

The MPRP, although associated with the dreary Soviet era, has maintained significant clout since democracy was introduced in the early 1990s.

It won the first post-Soviet elections in 1992 but lost power for four years in 1996 before storming back in the 2000 poll to win 72 of the 76 parliamentary seats.

It was initially forced into the coalition with the Democratic Party after an electoral backlash against its dominance at the 2004 polls.