• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Friday, March 31, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

Mongolia’s Dance with Democracy: Some Steps Back and Some Forward

Bat-Orgil Altankhuyag and Fernando Casal Bértoa by Bat-Orgil Altankhuyag and Fernando Casal Bértoa
07/01/20
in Opinion
People wearing face masks vote at a polling station in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, on June 24, 2020

People wearing face masks vote at a polling station in the capital of Mongolia, on June 24. Photo: AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Last Wednesday, Mongolia held its 8th parliamentary elections since the democratization of the country in 1990. However, these were the first ones to take place amidst a pandemic.

Notwithstanding fears among important sectors of the population and some institutions, including the president who had called for postponing the contest, almost three-quarters of the population turned out to vote with great normality.

Here are four things you need to know.

Unsurprising Landslide Victory

The post-communist Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), which had already gained a constitutional majority at the last 2016 parliamentary elections, won again by a landslide.

The party acquired 62 of the 76 seats in parliament, while the main opposition party, the liberal-conservative Democratic Party (DP), won just 11. The other three seats went to an independent candidate and two social-democratic parties. Thirteen 13 of the 76 seats went to female candidates, the highest number since the first democratic elections 30 years ago.

On the one hand, MPP’s victory was favored by the good management of the pandemic. Despite Mongolia’s proximity to China, MPP has managed to keep the number of infections low with just 219 cases, all of them coming from abroad. No one died from the virus in the country. This, in comparison with other more economically developed countries such as the US, UK, or Italy, has been considered an enormous success.

Lines are outside for this parliamentary election in Mongolia. In prior elections this station would have had people queue inside. Lines are moving reasonably quickly. Older people are being let in first here. #Сонгууль2020 pic.twitter.com/mF2VvYimrQ

— Robert Ritz (@robertritz88) June 24, 2020

On the other hand, it was an institutionally engineered landslide too. Using its constitutional majority, MPP managed to change the electoral system and introduce a block voting system characterized by multiple non-transferable votes. This not only marginalized smaller parties as expected (11 parties and two coalitions were left without representation), but it also increased the level of electoral disproportionality, especially pushed by the high number of wasted votes: 8.5 percent, a record in democratic Mongolia.

Thus, while MPP won almost 82 percent of the seats with barely 45 percent of the votes, DP won 14.5 with almost a quarter of the votes. Perhaps the best example of such disproportionality in the distribution of seats is that the New Coalition, which came in fourth place with 5.4 percent of the votes, was left out of parliament.

Thirdly, we should not forget that the new electoral changes also discriminated against more than 150,000 Mongolian emigrants, usually more inclined to vote for the opposition, as they could not be registered in any specific constituency. In a country with just 2 million voters, emigrant voters can make a huge difference.

Finally, Prime Minister Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh’s battle against air pollution in the capital, one of the most contaminated cities in the world, certainly paid off. By reducing the capital’s air pollution by almost half, MPP managed to solve one of the main environmental concerns in Mongolia’s electorate.

Mongolia’s Trajectory Toward a Dominant Party System

MPP’s victory of last Wednesday constitutes not only the party’s second landslide victory in the last four years but also its sixth win since 1992.

The opposition, with the Democratic Party at its head, was only able to defeat MPP in 1996, in coalition with the Mongolian Social Democratic Party, and then again in 2012.

In a world where the stakes of political competition are higher, electoral results have consequently become more uncertain and governments more difficult to predict. Mongolia constitutes one of the few current examples of what political scientists call a dominant party system.

This, like in India or South Africa before, or in Hungary now, might become problematic given dominant parties’ tendencies to blend party and state, and to appoint party officials to senior positions regardless of whether they have the required qualities. This was already visible during the last legislature and might become even more during the next four years.

COVID-19: No Impediment for Democracy

As in South Korea, this election was unique in terms of its organization. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing had to be practiced during campaigning events. Voters had to wear gloves and/or use sanitizing facilities. The number of international observers was low, especially compared with previous electoral contests, and actual observations were limited.

This pushed some candidates to vote buying. The most imaginative example was a candidate in the Dundgovi province in Southern Mongolia, who wanted to distribute motorcycles among those who voted for him. Fortunately, the police intervened and stopped the attempt.

People in traditional dress arrive to vote in the Mongolia's presidential election of 2017
People in traditional dress arrive to vote in the Mongolian presidential election of 2017. Photo: AFP

Worried COVID-19 might affect the affluence of voters, various civil society groups campaigned to increase participation. One example was that of the NGO Zorig Foundation, which, to mobilize the youth vote, encouraged voters to wear traditional clothes when voting to make the act of voting more sociable and look cooler. Paradoxically, this might also have mobilized older voters, nostalgic of traditional clothing and “voting” during Communist times, when people would vote covered in a deel, a traditional piece of clothing worn by nomadic tribes since the Mongols.

The result could not have been better. Almost 74 percent of voters participated in the elections. This is the highest turnout in a decade and breaks the declining trend that began with the new century.

Some Steps Back, Some Steps Forward

One of the elections’ most worrying events was the arrests of five opposition candidates (three of them DP members) without proper legal guarantees. A sixth candidate, this time an MP from the governing party, was also illegally detained accused of a conflict of interest. This, together with the concerns on MPP’s dominance over the political process, raises concerns about the quality of democracy in Mongolia.

On the other hand, however, Mongolian democracy seems firmly consolidated.

First of all, the Central Electoral Commission’s management of the contest was almost exemplary, especially given the COVID-19 pandemic.

Secondly, these elections saw an important generational change in Mongolian politics after 32 energetic, well-educated, and young candidates managed to obtain representation.

Finally, DP’s leader immediately accepted the crushing defeat and announced his resignation. It is definitively a good sign that intra-party democracy also works in the country. This is extremely important, especially given Mongolia’s exceptional position as the only fully democratic state in the region.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
ShareTweet
Bat-Orgil Altankhuyag and Fernando Casal Bértoa

Bat-Orgil Altankhuyag and Fernando Casal Bértoa

Bat-Orgil Altankhuyag is a Researcher at the DeFacto (Independent Research) Institute, Mongolia. Fernando Casal Bértoa (@CasalBertoa) is Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

Related Posts

A single falcon can fetch up to tens of thousands of dollars on the black market.
World

Poachers’ Paradise: Gulf Hunts Fuel Pakistan Falcon Trafficking

by Staff Writer
January 4, 2021
People in traditional dress arrive to vote in the Mongolia's presidential election of 2017
Opinion

What’s Next for Mongolia’s Troubled Oasis of Democracy?

by David Sneath
February 13, 2019
Next Post
Many of the 10 million-strong Muslim Uygur minority have complained about discrimination, including denials of passport applications and controls on their culture and religion, in China’s Xinjiang region

China Forcibly Sterilizes Uighurs to Control Population: Report

US President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up during a "Keep America Great" campaign rally at Wildwoods Convention Center in Wildwood, New Jersey, January 28, 2020

As States Reopen, More Americans Say Coronavirus Pandemic Has Been Overhyped

Please login to join discussion

Recommended

Damage from a series of powerful storms and at least one tornado is seen on March 25, 2023, in Rolling Fork, Mississippi

After Tornado Kills 25, Mississippi Faces More Extreme Weather

March 26, 2023
Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 26, 2023
participants of an artificial intelligence conference

How AI Could Upend the World Even More Than Electricity or the Internet

March 19, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
Heavily armed police inspect the area near a Jehovah's Witness church where several people have been killed in a shooting in Hamburg, northern Germany

Eight Dead in Shooting at Jehovah’s Witness Hall in Germany

March 10, 2023
Myanmar Rohingya refugees look on in a refugee camp in Teknaf, in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, on November 26, 2016

US Announces $26M in New Aid for Rohingya

March 8, 2023

Opinion

Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 26, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Top view of the US House of Representatives

‘Cringy Awards:’ Who Is the Most Embarrassing US House Representative?

February 13, 2023
Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post