Although first held democratic elections as long ago as 1991, older people continued to support and vote for the Mongolian People’s Party (prior to 2010, the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party). But this year, we had protest vote in that the youth also voted for the MPP.
The Democratic Party that been in government gave its explanation for the failure. But a survey of people from both the capital city and rural areas shows the following reasons:
- the non-democratic ruler of the Democratic Party
- lack of realistic choice; and
- effective black PR campaign.
Each of these reasons is further explained below.
1. The biggest reason why Democratic Party failed in the elections was cited as the non-democratic ruler of the Democratic Party. Here we are talking about the former Speaker of Parliament. His autocratic and authoritarian style became a matter of concern for Mongolia and Mongolians. Here are some examples of how he was a non-democratic speaker. 1. He cut off the microphone when a Parliament member speaking within his allotted time and he explained that the reason why he cut off the microphones was that ‘I don’t like what you are talking about’, or ‘I do not understand what you are speaking about’ etc. This happened more than just once. He discriminated against a parliament member based on his rural and non-mainstream dialect. These are just some examples. There are many other examples of his unpopular behavior and this is one of the biggest reasons why the Democratic Party failed.
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2. Prime Minister Saikhanbileg called a referendum on 31 January 2015. There were 2 choices: 1. We have to move forward by making decisions about mega-projects such as Oyutolgoi; or 2. save costs and use austerity to improve the financial situation. The referendum continued for 4 days, but was flawed. First, at that time the population of Mongolia had just reached 3 million, but the PM said that he has sent the referendum election message to a total of 3.3 million voters. People were able to vote by SMS messages, and therefore this means one person could vote several times. Even non Mongolian citizens and children, who are not entitled to participate in national referendums, voted. Second, only 12% of the population voted and 5% of the population voted for option 1. If it was a valid referendum, by Mongolian Constitutional Law there is a threshold of 50% of the population. Third, no kind of audit or observation was undertaken by civil society groups.
Overall, the populace determined that the PM did not give them realistic choices - they did not want to choose between the two options, rather they wanted to choose a combination of the two or perhaps even a third way to solve the problem. Further, notwithstanding that the result of the referendum was to move forward by being decisive about big projects, the Democratic Party's own internal conflicts of interest between its factions stymied any advancement on such projects even when they were in power. As a result, these big projects have not progressed even till today.
3. Our capital city and some rural areas developed rapidly for in the 4 years when the Democratic Party ruled the country. Thus many people really support and are proud of the Democratic Party. But their adversaries had an effective black PR campaign, judging the Democratic Party on its debt record. If we divide the total debt that Mongolia has now, every man has more than MNT 10 million in debt, approximately equivalent to USD 5,000. The opposition claimed (to great effect) that it was crazy that even newborn babies have debt. As a result, the majority of the population turned against the Democratic Party, ignoring the development that has taken place in the last 4 years when Democratic Party was in power.
In the latest news, Mongolia's national debt has reached a total of USD 14,824,369,000. It is true that we cannot do anything without money, and therefore if we want to develop our country and we do not have money, we must borrow from others. When people asked about the efficient spending of the loan proceeds, it was difficult to find a positive answer. On other hand, it is true that the Democratic Party was not thrifty with Mongolia's money. Thus, Mongolians protested against the Democratic Party by voting for the Mongolian People’s Party.
Mongolia will have rural local body election in less than a month.
In the last election, the Mongolian People’s Party won 85.5% of the Parliamentary vote giving it 65 seats out of 76. Even the previous Prime Minister and Speaker failed to win their constituency, and so the Democratic Party now has only 11.8% of the current Parliament. This is a reaction to how Mongolians felt with the Democratic Party’s non-democratic ruler and its messy political situation with too many conflicts of interest between its factions.
Mongolia will have rural local body election in less than a month. But the Democratic Party has not convened its National Consultative Committee in the time since its previous election failure. So, political experts say that it appears that the Democratic Party will fail again.
On the other hand, the Mongolian People’s party have already passed some regulations and decisions that is differ from what they promised before the election. For example, they are discussing whether to spend USD 2.5 million on dog contraception. They are also discussing tax reform, retirement benefits and whether to discontinue the subsidised mortgage programme. If their actions are not consistent with the Action Plan that they submitted to Parliament, this could lead Mongolia to yet another protest vote in 2020. Only time will tell.
Although first held democratic elections as long ago as 1991, older people continued to support and vote for the Mongolian People’s Party (prior to 2010, the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party). But this year, we had protest vote in that the youth also voted for the MPP.
The Democratic Party that been in government gave its explanation for the failure. But a survey of people from both the capital city and rural areas shows the following reasons:
- the non-democratic ruler of the Democratic Party
- lack of realistic choice; and
- effective black PR campaign.
Each of these reasons is further explained below.
1. The biggest reason why Democratic Party failed in the elections was cited as the non-democratic ruler of the Democratic Party. Here we are talking about the former Speaker of Parliament. His autocratic and authoritarian style became a matter of concern for Mongolia and Mongolians. Here are some examples of how he was a non-democratic speaker. 1. He cut off the microphone when a Parliament member speaking within his allotted time and he explained that the reason why he cut off the microphones was that ‘I don’t like what you are talking about’, or ‘I do not understand what you are speaking about’ etc. This happened more than just once. He discriminated against a parliament member based on his rural and non-mainstream dialect. These are just some examples. There are many other examples of his unpopular behavior and this is one of the biggest reasons why the Democratic Party failed.
2. Prime Minister Saikhanbileg called a referendum on 31 January 2015. There were 2 choices: 1. We have to move forward by making decisions about mega-projects such as Oyutolgoi; or 2. save costs and use austerity to improve the financial situation. The referendum continued for 4 days, but was flawed. First, at that time the population of Mongolia had just reached 3 million, but the PM said that he has sent the referendum election message to a total of 3.3 million voters. People were able to vote by SMS messages, and therefore this means one person could vote several times. Even non Mongolian citizens and children, who are not entitled to participate in national referendums, voted. Second, only 12% of the population voted and 5% of the population voted for option 1. If it was a valid referendum, by Mongolian Constitutional Law there is a threshold of 50% of the population. Third, no kind of audit or observation was undertaken by civil society groups.
Overall, the populace determined that the PM did not give them realistic choices - they did not want to choose between the two options, rather they wanted to choose a combination of the two or perhaps even a third way to solve the problem. Further, notwithstanding that the result of the referendum was to move forward by being decisive about big projects, the Democratic Party's own internal conflicts of interest between its factions stymied any advancement on such projects even when they were in power. As a result, these big projects have not progressed even till today.
3. Our capital city and some rural areas developed rapidly for in the 4 years when the Democratic Party ruled the country. Thus many people really support and are proud of the Democratic Party. But their adversaries had an effective black PR campaign, judging the Democratic Party on its debt record. If we divide the total debt that Mongolia has now, every man has more than MNT 10 million in debt, approximately equivalent to USD 5,000. The opposition claimed (to great effect) that it was crazy that even newborn babies have debt. As a result, the majority of the population turned against the Democratic Party, ignoring the development that has taken place in the last 4 years when Democratic Party was in power.
In the latest news, Mongolia's national debt has reached a total of USD 14,824,369,000. It is true that we cannot do anything without money, and therefore if we want to develop our country and we do not have money, we must borrow from others. When people asked about the efficient spending of the loan proceeds, it was difficult to find a positive answer. On other hand, it is true that the Democratic Party was not thrifty with Mongolia's money. Thus, Mongolians protested against the Democratic Party by voting for the Mongolian People’s Party.
Mongolia will have rural local body election in less than a month.
In the last election, the Mongolian People’s Party won 85.5% of the Parliamentary vote giving it 65 seats out of 76. Even the previous Prime Minister and Speaker failed to win their constituency, and so the Democratic Party now has only 11.8% of the current Parliament. This is a reaction to how Mongolians felt with the Democratic Party’s non-democratic ruler and its messy political situation with too many conflicts of interest between its factions.
Mongolia will have rural local body election in less than a month. But the Democratic Party has not convened its National Consultative Committee in the time since its previous election failure. So, political experts say that it appears that the Democratic Party will fail again.
On the other hand, the Mongolian People’s party have already passed some regulations and decisions that is differ from what they promised before the election. For example, they are discussing whether to spend USD 2.5 million on dog contraception. They are also discussing tax reform, retirement benefits and whether to discontinue the subsidised mortgage programme. If their actions are not consistent with the Action Plan that they submitted to Parliament, this could lead Mongolia to yet another protest vote in 2020. Only time will tell.