On May 5, the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), the Democratic Party (DP) and the Right Person Voter Coalition (RPVC) submitted the relevant documents to the General Election Commission (GEC) to register their candidates for the presidential election, and the commission received materials of three candidates.
MPP CORRECTS ACTION PLAN
Secretary General of MPP D.Amarbayasgalan and lawmakers N.Enkhbold and D.Togtokhsuren handed over candidate U.Khurelsukh’s documents to the GEC.
The National Audit Office demanded changes to Section 17 of MPP’s action plan. Accordingly, the changes to the action plan was reviewed and approved by the audit office, D.Amarbayasgalan said.
“Candidate materials were submitted in accordance with the requirements of the law. We unanimously supported Chairman of the party U.Khurelsukh out of five candidates, based on discussions with about 250,000 members and supporters, and about 2,500 primary and secondary organizations across the country. Our candidate meets all requirements of the Constitution and the Law on Presidential Elections. MPP paid special attention to the full implementation of its action plan. Our goal is to establish justice, distribute wealth equally, and strengthen the fundamental principles of human rights and democracy.”
GEC ACCEPTS S.ERDENE’S DOCUMENT
Due to DP’s two nominations for the presidential election, the GEC postponed the receipt of documents related to their registration based on Article 5.5 of the Law on Presidential Election. In response, N.Altankhuyag nominated by the DP group led by O.Tsogtgerel arrived at the commission to submit his documents, but the GEC rejected it.
However, the working group established by the GEC received documents of S.Erdene, nominated by the DP group led by M.Tulgat based on the inquiries submitted by the Supreme Court and General Authority for State Registration.
Head of the GEC P.Delgernaran said, “DP’s name and rule are registered with the Supreme Court, but its seal is problematic. According to Article 31.2 of the Constitution, one candidate from each party or coalition must be nominated for the presidential election. This is also reflected in the Law on Presidential Elections. Political parties can run for presidency individually or jointly. Split DP factions selected their candidates separately and the party is internally controversial. The audit body did not have the authority to determine which candidate to nominate, so it reviewed two action plans submitted by DP. However, according to the Supreme Court, S.Erdene was elected as chairman of the party by Resolution No. 3 of the 7th Congress of DP on February 12, 2017. The court stated that decision was not annulled. The commission must receive only one the documents of one candidate from each party.”
N.Altankhuyag’s side expressed its dissatisfaction at the GEC. Particularly, lawmaker J.Batsuuri noted that DP, which has 13 seats in Parliament, has the right to nominate N.Altankhuyag for the 2021 presidential election.
N.Altankhuyag said, “DP is not divided. This is a sign that Mongolia is under a one-party dictatorship. First, giving another person the right to obtain a new DP seal violated the law by the state registration inspector. The administrative court suspended the new seal on February 2 this year. Therefore, the newly issued seal is invalid. The appeal hearing was held on May 4, but was postponed. The seal used by S.Erdene is invalid. Second, a political party with a seat in Parliament has the right to nominate a candidate for the presidency. The 13 members of Parliament elected from DP are on one side. There is no lawmaker on S.Erdene’s side. We are insulted that DP is divided.”
Subsequently, DP lawmakers started a sit-in and began a hunger strike at Sukhbaatar Square, claiming that Head of the GEC P.Delgernaran grossly interfered in the party’s internal affairs and violated the rights of thousands of DP members to vote and stand for election.
Moreover, they asked the president to convene the National Security Council immediately. The president scheduled the council’s meeting at 5:30 p.m. on May 5, but it did not take place due to an unstated reason.
RPVC: THIS ELECTION WILL PRESENT A REAL CHOICE
Chairman of the National Labor Party, lawmaker elected from RPVC T.Dorjkhand, and other members handed over the materials of candidate D.Enkhbat to the GEC.
T.Dorjkhand said, “In the presidential election, we will respect the law and act within the rules. In any case, a president will be elected in accordance with the law. As we promised, this election will present a real choice. In the 2017 presidential election, the people cast blank ballots, but this time we give them a real choice.”
The head of the GEC noted that the commission received the coalition’s action plan from the audit organization, and accepted the candidate’s materials in accordance with Article 28 of the Law on Presidential Elections.
ELECTION OBSERVERS TO BE REGISTERED BEFORE MAY 10
The GEC stated that an independent non-governmental organization will submit its request to monitor and observe the presidential election before May 10.
A copy of the NGO’s rule, certificate, financial resources and structure, composition information, and external monitoring plan must be submitted to the GEC.
Article 63.1 of the Law on Presidential Election states that a non-governmental organization registered with the GEC has the right to appoint up to two observers at one polling station.
It also provides for the issuance of identification cards to observers registered with the polling station committee at least two days before the polling day. In addition, soum and district election committees must form section committees before May 9.
After that, the voter list will be submitted to the section committees.
