Category Archives: Politics

Some Perspectives on Election Campaign from Parties and Observers

In meetings with party officials from the DP and MPP, I heard – not surprisingly – very different perspectives on the election. On the one hand, voters were described as interested in specifics of platform proposals, on the other hand … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Party, Elections, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Party Politics, Presidential 2013 | Tagged | Leave a comment

1st Interim Report

[The title of the post is a bit of a pun, of course, as the OSCE election observation mission to Mongolia has been producing very substantial documents updating on their monitoring and these are entitled “Interim Report”] Quiet Ulaanbaatar I … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Will Green Party, Democracy, Democratic Party, Elections, JD Democratization, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Party Politics, Politics, Presidential 2013, Public Opinion | Tagged | Leave a comment

Polling in UB One Week Before Election

Sant Maral has released a poll ahead of the presidential election that gives a glimpse of some of the tendencies in public opinion. As of June 19, no more polling is allowed, so one week ahead of the election, this … Continue reading

Posted in Democracy, Democratic Party, Elections, JD Democratization, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Party Politics, Politics, Presidential 2013, Public Opinion, Ulaanbaatar | Tagged | Leave a comment

Elbegdorj Platform

[This post was researched and co-written by Brian White at The Mongolist blog.] Previous posts have offered an overview over the three candidates’ platforms, as well as of their foreign policy goals. Ten days before the election, President Ts Elbegdorj … Continue reading

Posted in Democracy, Democratic Party, Elections, Foreign Policy, Governance, International Relations, Policy, Presidential 2013 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Tweet-Up in Ulaanbaatar

I am inviting my Mongolian Twitter followers (and others interested) to meet in person on Friday, June 21st at 16:30h, at the American Center for Mongolian Studies in Ulaanbaatar (Rm 306, Center 34 Building, near Zanabazar Museum, location). Topics I will … Continue reading

Posted in American Center for Mongolian Studies, Canada, International Relations, Politics, Presidential 2013, Research on Mongolia, Social Media, Ulaanbaatar | Tagged | 1 Comment

Odd Numbers of Arrows: The Abe-Udval Connection

When I looked at Udval’s campaign website for the first time, the photo of her holding a bundle of arrows jumped out at me immediately. Yes, she’s wearing a beautiful light-blue deel, but it’s the arrows that caught my attention. … Continue reading

Posted in Japan, Literature, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Presidential 2013 | Tagged | Leave a comment

2013 Presidential Candidates: Foreign Policy Proposals

With the election right around the corner, we thought it would be helpful to offer a brief comparison of the foreign policy proposals from the three candidates. Since setting foreign policy measures is one of the primary roles of the … Continue reading

Posted in Elections, Foreign Investment, Foreign Policy, International Relations, Nationalism, Politics, Presidential 2013 | Tagged | 5 Comments

Bat-Erdene Election Platform

[This post was researched and co-written by Brian White at The Mongolist blog.] Bat-Erdene’s platform begins similarly to Udval’s by describing challenges facing the country. He does not go as far as Udval in labeling them as “dangers,” but the … Continue reading

Posted in Elections, Environment, Inequality, Judiciary, Mining, Mongolian People's Party, Oyu Tolgoi, Party Politics, Policy, Presidential 2013, Social Media | Tagged | 1 Comment

Presidential Election as Test of DP Dominance

The upcoming presidential election will be the first occasion for the DP’s claims to stand for clean government to be tested in an election campaign since the party’s predecessor dominated the 1996-2000 parliament. This will be the first election that … Continue reading

Posted in Corruption, Democracy, Democratic Party, Elections, Governance, JD Democratization, Law, Party Politics, Politics, Presidential 2013, Security Apparatus | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Udval Election Platform

Speculation about some kind of Udval retreat notwithstanding, based on information contributed by and co-written with Brian White at The Mongolist, we discuss Udval’s election platform here. Broad Goals Similar to the other candidates, Minister of Health N Udval intends … Continue reading

Posted in China, Corruption, Elections, Foreign Investment, Governance, Judiciary, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Policy, Politics, Presidential 2013, Social Media | Tagged | 1 Comment

Is Udval in it for Real?

Here are some speculative musings from around the international ger stove… When the MPRP was deciding on whether to run a candidate in the election some weeks ago, there was a fair bit of speculation that this decision was a … Continue reading

Posted in Elections, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Party Politics, Politics, Presidential 2013 | Tagged | 2 Comments

Presidential Election Platforms

[This post was researched and co-written by Brian White at The Mongolist blog.] A cursory examination of the platforms of all three presidential candidates (incumbent Ts Elbegdorj, Member of Parliament B Bat-Erdene, and Minister of Health N Udval) gives the … Continue reading

Posted in Corruption, Democracy, Democratic Party, Education, Elections, Foreign Policy, Health, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Party Politics, Policy, Politics, Presidential 2013 | Tagged | 6 Comments

I’m Still Thinking Run-Off…

Mendee has posted some very good reasons why he thinks a run-off following the June 26 presidential election is unlikely. At least until we see another Sant Maral poll (I’m hoping there will be one more before the June 19 … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Party, Elections, JD Democratization, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Party Politics, Politics, Presidential 2013 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Run-off Is Unlikely

Politics in Mongolia is always interesting, dynamic, and puzzling – especially, towards  elections.  I like to challenge Julian’s earlier post about the potential for a run-off in the presidential election and argue that the incumbent has a strong likelihood of … Continue reading

Posted in Democracy, Democratic Party, Elections, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Party Politics, Politics, Presidential 2013 | Tagged | 2 Comments

New Book: Does Everyone Want Democracy? Insights from Mongolia

Does Everyone Want Democracy? Insights from Mongolia by Paula L.W. Sabloff. Left Coast Press 2013. 266 pp., 282 pp. / 6.00 x 9.00 / Apr, 2013, eBook (978-1-61132-719-9), Hardback (978-1-59874-565-8) Do all people desire democracy? For over a century, the … Continue reading

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