President Kh.Battulga participated in the July 16 irregular parliamentary session to share his proposals on constitutional amendments with lawmakers and explain key reasons for his proposals. Prior to his statement at the parliamentary session, President Kh.Battulga handed over his proposals on constitutional amendments to Speaker of Parliament G.Zandanshatar on July 16. The president’s proposals were delivered to all lawmakers.
In his address, President Kh.Battulga emphasized that people are disappointed by the operations of the current legislature and judiciary, and the people are still facing a lot of socio-economic challenges, which is why lawmakers should pay attention to the constitutional amendments as the Constitution is relevant to today's circumstances. The president explained the reason why the current number lawmakers should be increased from 76 to 108, saying, “When the current Constitution was adopted in 1992, Mongolia’s population was two million. Then-legislators figured out the current number of lawmakers for two million people, but today 76 lawmakers are not enough to represent three million Mongolians to the legislature, which is why I proposed to increase the number of lawmakers from 76 to 108 to represent the interests of three million Mongolians to Parliament.”
Kh.Battulga emphasized that Mongolians should elect their lawmakers in two methods. “The first vote is for a direct candidate, who ought to receive a plurality vote in their electoral areas. The second vote is used to elect a party list in each state as established by its respective party caucus or board,” the president highlighted. As the president believes that a referendum on the country’s independence should be banned under the Constitution, he proposed such a part. The president has proposed to create a judicial accountability committee that has the authority to hold accountability to judges who violate the law and engage in corruption or crime as the president believes that the Judicial General Council isn’t able to hold accountability to those violating the laws and engaging in illegal activates. He also proposed that Ulaanbaatar’s nine districts be on the same status as provinces.
The president proposed a part stating that the prime minister can be a lawmaker, but other Cabinet ministers cannot serve as lawmakers at the same time. Kh.Battulga also suggested Parliament to increase the four-year parliamentary tenure to five due to economic cycle length. “Mongolia needs a consistently strong political system that isn't subject to arbitrary policies, unfortunately, the country could not execute a long-term development policy and the ruling parties over the past decades have just focused on implementing their four-year action plans, which requires the country to carry out a long-term development and socio-economic policy, so I put forward a proposal to extend the current tenure of Mongolia’s legislature by one more year,” the president noted.
If Parliament agrees to include this proposal into the new Constitution, the tenures of government and local councils might be increased to five years. Parliament will discuss the president’s proposals during its second review of the constitutional amendments. Parliament has the authority to include the president’s proposals wholly or partly, or not include them at all.
