Mongolia Political System
Political system
Short for MN, Mongolia is an independent democracy with a president as head of state, a prime minister as head of government and a parliament with legislative power. Politics is characterized by contradictions between two major parties: the former Communist Party, which was the only allowed party as long as the country was under the influence of the Soviet Union, and a bourgeois center-right party.
Mongolia got a new constitution in 1992. It replaced a former Soviet-inspired constitution and is based on a democratic, Western model.
The president, who is head of state and commander-in-chief, is elected in direct general elections for a term of four years.
The legislative power lies with Parliament (large hural) which has a chamber of 76 members who are elected in general elections every four years. Twenty-eight of the members are elected in proportional elections, that is, the mandate is distributed according to the parties’ share of the number of votes. In order to participate and share, a party must receive at least five percent of the vote. The other mandates are added in a majority election in one-man constituencies, where the candidate with the most votes wins.
Huralen appoints a prime minister who then forms government. The president has the right to veto bills that are being considered by Parliament, but the president’s veto can be lifted by a two-thirds majority decision in the hural
Management
Mongolia is divided into 21 provinces (aimag) and the capital Ulan Bator (Ulaanbataar). The provinces are governed by elected councils and a governor appointed by the government. There are also elected parishes at the local level. Local elections are held every four years.
Political parties
Domestic politics is dominated by the reformed Communist Party of the Mongolian People’s Party (Mongol Ardyn Nam, in English abbreviated to MPP), which until 2010 was called the Mongol People’s Revolutionary Party (Mongol Ardyn Chuvsgalt Nam , in English abbreviated to MPRP) and by the bourgeois Democratic Party (Ardtjil nam, in English abbreviated to DP).
The MPRP held power in Mongolia from the early 1920s until 1996. Until the upheavals in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s, the MPRP was a Marxist-Leninist party that advocated a totalitarian social system in which the state and the Communist Party have all power. When the communist system collapsed in the eastern bloc, the party changed ideology, adopted democratic principles and began to call itself social democratic. With the name change in 2010, the party took its name from the time before 1921. The name change caused a party of the party to break out and form a new party under the old party name MPRP.
DP is a market liberal center-right party with roots in the Mongolian National Democratic Party (MNDP) formed by three liberal parties in 1992. DP was founded in 2000 by outbreakers from the MNDP and four other liberal and social democratic parties. DP became the largest party in the 2012 election and formed a government with the Justice Coalition , an association of the newly formed MPRP and MNDP. The government coalition also included the smaller party Civil Courage Party -The Greens (IZ-NN). But DP suffered a stinging loss in the election four years later, then
The MPP took home almost all the seats in Parliament.
Clan loyalty and geographical origin play a major role in all parties. Many leading politicians are children or grandchildren of political leaders during the communist era (1924-1990).
2011
December
New electoral legislation
The electoral law is changed: 48 of the members of parliament will be elected by majority vote and the remaining 28 by proportional method (among parties that won at least 5 percent of the vote in the election).
October
Copper extraction agreement
An agreement is reached with Ivanhoe Mines (owned by mining and commodity giant Rio Tinto) on cooperation in the extraction of copper in the Ojuu Tolgoj mine.
August
New layer of transparency
A new law is enacted that will make the government’s work more transparent and give the people greater access to information.
July
Exploitation of coalfields
Three energy companies, one American, one Chinese and one Russian-Mongolian, are given permission to develop the coveted Tavan Tolgoj coal field in the Gobi desert.
June
Former president starts party
Former president (and former party chairman of the old MPRP) Nambaryn Enchbajar registers a new party. Enchbajar was critical of the old MPRP changing its name to the Mongolian People’s Party and the new party may therefore take over the name MPRP.
