Mongolian legislative election, 2012

Mongolian legislative election, 2012
Mongolia
28 June 2012
All 76 seats to the Ikh Khural
39 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Norovyn Altankhuyag Sükhbaataryn Batbold
Party DP MPP
Leader since 30 August 2008 6 November 2010
Leader's seat Party list (№1) Party list (№1)
Last election 27 seats, 40.43% 45 seats, 52.67%
Seats won 34 [1] 26[1]
Seat change Increase7 Decrease19
Popular vote 399,194 353,839
Percentage 44.73% 34.21%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Nambaryn Enkhbayar Sanjaasürengiin Oyuun
Party Justice Coalition Civil Will-Green
Leader since 29 June 2011 12 March 2012
Leader's seat not contesting Party list (№1)
Last election new party 2 seats, 3.39%
Seats won 11[1] 2 [1]
Seat change Increase11 Steady0
Popular vote 252,077 62,310
Percentage 22.31% 5.51%
Prime Minister before election

Sükhbaataryn Batbold
MPP

 Elected Prime Minister

Norovyn Altankhuyag
DP

Mongolia
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Mongolia

Parliamentary elections were held in Mongolia on 28 June 2012 to elect 76 members of the State Great Khural.[2] Also held during the parliamentary elections was the Ulaanbaatar city council election, the first time both have been held at the same time. For the first time, the election used vote counting machines by new parliamentary election law to make the election fair.

Electoral system

A new parliamentary election law introduced the status of domestic election observers who are nominated by civil society organisations. Parties had to announce 48 candidates for constituency seats and 28 candidates for proportional allocation.[3] Among the changes was also a quota of 20% of seats reserved for women.[4]

Parties

On 24 May the Democratic Party (DP) and Mongolian People's Party (MPP) announced their candidates for the election. A new party that participated was Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party which was established in 2010 by Nambaryn Enkhbayar.

Prior to January, the Democratic Party was a part of the grand coalition in government with the Mongolian People's Party, but later withdrew to focus on the campaign.[5]

Campaign

A large share of the posters were for individual candidates, though showing party logos, which were perceived as being aimed at voters in specific constituencies. By contrast, advertising on television was much broader and much more focused on the parties.

Corruption is a big problem, because of corruption, because of bad governance I think most of the emerging societies are failing and failed. We [don't] want to repeat that.
— President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, [6]

A spate of mining concessions to foreign companies has led to an influx of money into the country. This was also followed by accusations of corruption and a lack of accountability over the political leadership for squandering the country's natural resources and at least tacitly tolerating the mistreatment of Mongolian workers at mines operated by foreign companies. All political parties campaigned against corruption before the election. Mining and Energy Minister Dashdorjiin Zorigt said that "the only way out of this situation is to have more growth that is more just." According to the opinion polling firm, Sumati Luvsandendev, 90% of Mongolians believe that politicians benefit from some form of "special arrangements" over mining concessions to foreign companies. Rapper Tugsjargal Munkherdene, also known as "Gee," partook in campaigning against corruption.[7] including a controversial video clip against the alleged exploitation by ethnic Chinese.[8] As a result of public pressure, there was a speculation of tightening restrictions for investment in the mining sector after the election.[9]

The MPRP campaigned on a platform of "resource nationalism." Reuters suggested its participation in government could impact the mining sector, including the Tavan Tolgoi coal project, which the MPRP wants controlled by Mongolians.[5] Other issues included variations by the parties on how to use the windfall from mining concessions most efficiently, including pensions, infrastructure and other subsidies for local industries. The Democratic Party expressed it was best placed to help the poor and unemployed, while calling the Mongolian People's Party held to the elite[10] and foreign mining interests.[11]

Opinion polls

The Sant Maral Foundation and analysts had suggested that the Democratic Party would get a small plurality over the Mongolian People's Party, though neither party would get a majority.[10]

Conduct

The polling stations were open from 7:00 to 20:00.[12] Voting took place using electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the first time. The voting machines were set up by the Canadian company Dominion Voting Systems[10][12] to report results immediately to the General Election Committee rather than any kind of tabulation by the local election officials. Of the 1,833,000 eligible voters, 65% turned out to vote.[5] There were 544 candidates, of which 174 were women.[4]

Upon voting, President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj said "Today, we Mongolians face an important time to make a historic choice to address Mongolia's development and democracy."[10]

Results

  Summary of the 28 June 2012 Mongolian State Great Khural election results
Party Constituency Party list Total
seats		 +/– Votes summary
Seats +/− Seats +/− Votes % +/−
Democratic Party 24 Decrease6 10 Increase10 34 Increase4 399,194 35.32% +35.32
Mongolian People's Party 17 Decrease26 9 Increase9 26 Decrease20 353,839 31.31% +31.31
Justice Coalition (MPRP and MNDP) 4 Increase4 7 Increase7 11 Increase11 252,077 22.31% +22.31
Civil Will–Green Party 0 Decrease2 2 Increase2 2 Steady 62,310 5.51% +5.51
Independents 3 Increase2 0 Steady 3 Increase2 – – –
Totals 48 Steady 28 Steady 76 Steady 1,198,086 100% –
Registered voters/turnout1,833,47865.24%–
Source: General Election Commission of Mongolia, UB Post Mongolia Today News.mn Revote (News.mn)

The Election Commission ordered by-elections in two constituencies in which the winning candidates did not gain enough votes.[13]

Reaction

Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj pointed out he was led to believe that all parties had so far accepted the result thus a coalition is likely to be formed in August. He then added that "the Mongolian People's Party seems to be losing to the Democratic Party" and that he "hope[s] that Mongolia is going to make great progress towards democracy, justice and prosperity."[14]

On 30 June the Mongolian People's Party and eight smaller parties called for a new election with manual hand counting throughout every constituency in the country. MPP Secretary Yangug Sodbaatar said that the EVMs "violated the constitution. We are [thus] demanding the traditional system of counting votes by hand in every election constituency across the whole country to end this confusion that the population has about the voting machines and automated systems." However, the Democratic Party did not sign a petition to call for a new election, backing the automated system.[15]

As a result of the election, the Democratic Party became the majority at the parliament. The Democratic Party formed a coalition government with Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and Civil Will-Green Party in August 2012. The Mongolian People's Party became the opposition at the parliament.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Humber, Yuriy. "Mongolia's Parliament Begins Session; Four Seats Still Undecided". Bloomberg. Bloomberg. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "The Parliamentary election to be held on June 28". news.mn. 26 April 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  3. ↑ "DP and MPP to announce their candidates for election". news.mn. 24 May 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  4. 1 2 http://www.eurasiareview.com/29062012-mongolia-new-electoral-law-aims-to-help-women-enter-parliament/
  5. 1 2 3 Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/29/mongolia-elections-idUSL3E8HS2LS20120629. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2012/06/201262973536776654.html
  7. ↑ http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/06/20126267146476947.html
  8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MeK0T_aWNc
  9. ↑ http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-25/mongolian-mining-drops-to-record-low-on-investment-rule-concerns
  10. 1 2 3 4 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303649504577494473361870152.html?mod=googlenews_wsj. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/man-vs-machine-mongolia-poll-results-snag-on-ruling-party-call-for-recount-of-machine-votes/2012/06/29/gJQAs0mXAW_story.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. 1 2 http://www.asiapacificmemo.ca/mongolian-election-bumpy-road-but-heading-in-the-right-direction
  13. ↑ Mongolia Democratic Party Confident Of Victory After Voting Bloomberg, 2 July 2012
  14. ↑ http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-27/mongolians-vote-seeking-bigger-share-of-world-beating-economy
  15. ↑ http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/06/201263043418750362.html
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