ULAN BATOR, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Mongolian Parliament speaker Miyegombo Enkhbold has rejected demands for him to resign, the press office of the legislative body said Thursday.

"Before the new year, some 40 lawmakers demanded me to voluntarily step down from my post. I sent their demand letter to the parliament's standing committee on state structure for consideration," Enkhbold told parliament.

Enkhbold refused to resign, saying the committee declined to consider the demand "as it is contrary to the law on dismissing the speaker of the parliament."

According to the Mongolian law, there are five legal grounds to dismiss parliament speaker, namely death, severe disease, appointment to another position, guilty of a crime, and decision of dismissal from the constitutional court.

More than half of the lawmakers in the 76-seat parliament and ministers have boycotted plenary sessions and meetings of standing committees of the parliament for five weeks, demanding Enkhbold's resignation over alleged conflicts of interest.

Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh also submitted a request to the constitutional court on Nov. 29 to fire Enkhbold.

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 election in 2016.

According to Khurelsukh, Enkhbold has been interfering in the investigation and resolve of the case.

Enkhbold has denied the allegations, saying he did not do anything unethical and illegal.

In late December, Enkhbold submitted an official demand letter to the prime minister, requesting the parliament to stop boycotting plenary sessions.