Mongolian Presidential Election: Analysis (I)

The past few weeks experienced important developments in the field of energy. Just as humans need energy to be active as without food we are unable to engage, so do modern states require energy to survive as a lack of electricity would lead to chaos. This was once again highlighted for everyone to see at the end of last month with energy-hungry eyes focusing on the Caucasus, particularly on which route westward the Azeri government would prefer. The selection of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project over the Nabucco West project by the Azerbaijani government finally answered the question the EU had been thinking of: how to reduce its dependency on Russian energy.
 
Whilst economics in general and energy in particular captured people’s attentions there was another very important development in greater Central Asia also related to energy in terms of mining. Mongolia held its Presidential Election on June 26^th which was keenly followed by many interested observers. One of the reasons for this concerned Mongolia being extremely well endowed in terms of natural resources such as copper, gold and coal. The elections were classified as free and fair democratic elections. Three candidates contested the election: the incumbent Elbegdorj from the Democratic Party, Bat-Erdene, a former wrestling champion of the Mongolian People’s Party and Health Minister Udval, representing the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party.
 
Campaign
 
The campaign was on the whole quite low key. Very few billboards and campaign leaflets, brochures were distributed or seen by the electors. One of the reasons for this was due to the new Presidential Election Law (PEL) passed last December. Accordingly, candidates were limited to campaign solely on matters directly concerning the areas within which the president had responsibility for: security and defence matters. The idea behind the law was to ensure presidential elections are not transformed into a party political battlefield with all issues being legitimate to discuss debate and attack each other.
 
The primary concern was to prevent a free-for all political climate with candidates attacking each other concerning their respective party political histories, therefore leading to a convoluted and dirty campaign. This election, however, was far from that and can be classified as quite a sanitised electoral campaign. This was also evidenced by the official campaign websites of the three main candidates where they focused primarily on the issues and concentrated on identifying their pledges for the future.
 
The election results were not a surprise to observers: it would have come as a shock if the incumbent president had not been re-elected. Having said this however, Mongolia is unique in being a post-socialist state transforming into a democracy, whereby incumbent presidents are not re-elected as of right, as has been the norm in most Central Asian states. In Mongolia’s case the president was re-elected due to both his strengths and due to his opponent’s weaknesses.
 
President Elbegdorj’s particular strength concerned his previous political activism. Firstly, he had been Prime Minister of Mongolia on two occasions and his democratic credentials were highlighted by the fact that he was one of the few people who demonstrated in 1989 urging the Mongolian Communist Party to adopt multi-party elections and abolish the one-party state. His association with political transition was a powerful factor in convincing Mongolians to allow him to remain in office as head of state.
 
A significant important detail was the inclusion of a woman candidate in the presidential election - a first in Mongolian history. Nevertheless, despite this positive development, however, the gender gap remains in Mongolia as there are very few women in parliament with the ratio of women in the cabinet also being quite low.
 
The other presidential candidate from the MPP was extremely well-known given the fact that he was a prominent champion wrestler in the country. The incumbent president benefited from endorsements by two famous sportsmen who joined the Democratic Party (DP). Through this he was able to counterbalance the sporting popularity of his main opponent Bat-Erdene. 
 
Result
 
When investigating the preliminary results of the election one can clearly see a rural urban divide. Mongolians who lived in the capital city especially and in other urban conurbations tended to support the incumbent president, whereas Mongolians who lived in the vast steppe voted for the populist main opposition challenger.
 
Despite the fact that the election was a positive sign for the development of democracy in Mongolia, it had several defects. One of the criticisms leveled at the presidential election was the inability of individuals to stand as an independent candidate to become head of state. The constitution and the PEL limited the right to nominate presidential candidates to parliamentary parties and coalitions. Another criticism concerned the media; of who owned which media source and how independent it was. There was much vagueness concerning ownership. These fears were noted and expressed by the OSCE who had sent short-term and long-term observers to the presidential election in declaring that political actors had either direct or indirect ownership of media outlets thus restricting ‘editorial independence’ and  ‘a robust public debate’.
 
Nevertheless, when one looks at the election from an overall perspective, they were far and away much more liberal, open and democratic compared to any other post-socialist state transitioning towards an open-market democracy. It is due to this, therefore, that Mongolia has consistently been highlighted as a very good example of a socialist state transitioning towards democracy. It was precisely this theme that President Obama reiterated in his congratulatory message: “Through its impressive democratic achievements and its progress on economic liberalization, Mongolia serves as a significant example of positive reform and transformation for peoples around the world.”
 
Mongolia has been able to achieve this primarily due to the domestic desire to establish and entrench a more open and liberal political regime. It has been such a domestic demand for progress that has driven Mongolia further along the road to democracy. Having said this, however, one cannot dismiss the international dimension. International aid and assistance has been given to Mongolia, encouraging its transformative path. What has also considerably assisted in this process has been the economic wealth that Mongolia has literally been sitting on. With its mineral wealth speculated to run into trillions of dollars, this has made Mongolia a magnet for foreign investments, especially the international mining companies.