On October 26, the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) caucus in Parliament convened to discuss the revision of the Law on Courts of Mongolia.

Chairman of the MPP caucus D.Togtokhsuren said, “The working group needs to work more broadly on the bill submitted by the government. As this law is in line with the amendments to the Constitution, there is a need to integrate the court and the judiciary administrative organization. Therefore, it is recommended that the Law on Courts submitted by the government be approved by November.”

“The leadership of the judiciary has been changed by recommendation of the National Security Council in accordance with the law passed in 2019. A total of 13 members of Parliament have submitted a bill to overturn these recommendations. The MPP caucus agreed that the law should be discussed with the Law on Courts,” he added.

Two bills on court have been submitted to Parliament. The government submitted a bill on court in April 2019 and Parliament agreed to discuss it. A working group has been set up to prepare the bill for parliamentary review. The president also submitted three bills on courts. However, the bills were discussed in the standing committee and a decision was made to rescind them.

Democratic Party

On the same day, the Democratic Party (DP) caucus in Parliament convened and reported that DP initiated a bill to increase the minimum pension amount.

Noting that the bill was supported unanimously by the caucus, Chairman of the DP caucus D.Ganbat said that the caucus will submit the bill on increasing the minimum pension amount, which is critical for 270,000 people.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament S.Odontuya said, “The DP caucus initiated a bill to increase the minimum pension amount to 500,000 MNT. Today, the elders receive a pension of less than 500,000 MNT, which is not enough to live on. According to the National Statistics Office, the average household expenditure was 1.1 million MNT. The pensions of two elder couples together do not cover one third of their living expenses. They are impoverished due to lack of private property and savings.”

“The bill consists of seven main parts. With the adoption of the bill, the elderly will receive the benefits of natural resources and a pension income according to Article 6.2 of the Constitution, which stipulates that the majority of the benefits will be allocated to the people in accordance with the principle of strategic ownership of natural resources. In accordance with Parliamentary Resolution No. 24, it was decided to put six strategically important mineral deposits into operation as soon as possible and to distribute their benefits. Therefore, Tsagaan Suvarga deposit will provide additional funding for senior citizens' pensions,” she added.

Lawmaker S.Purevdorj noted that Parliament declined state ownership of the Tsagaan Suvarga deposit. “The government built the railway along the deposit. Therefore, the value of the deposit has increased by another 60 percent. As the government
has carried out this large-scale construction, it needs to discuss and resolve with the company the proposal to own a certain percentage of Tsagaan Suvarga. The company that owns the deposit has not worked for six years. Therefore, let's make a certain amount of investment together and put it into circulation. It is right to spend a certain amount of money from circulating shares on the elders,” he said.