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Mongolia

Country in east-Central Asia, bounded north by Russia and south by China.

Government

The 1992 constitution provides for a 76-member parliament, the People's Great Hural (assembly), elected by a simple majority voting system for a four-year term. Parliamentary deputies must obtain the support of at least 50% of the electorate in their constituencies. The president is popularly elected for a four-year term.

History

Inhabited by nomads from northern Asia, the area was united under Genghis Khan in 1206 and by the end of the 13th century was part of the Mongol Empire that stretched across Asia. From 1689 it was part of China.

After the revolution of 1911-12 Mongolia became autonomous under the Lamaist religious ruler Jebsten Damba Khutukhtu. From 1915 it fell increasingly under Chinese influence and not until 1921, with the support of the USSR, were Mongolian nationalists able to cast off the Chinese yoke.

‘Sovietization’

In 1924 Mongolia adopted the Soviet system of government and, after proclaiming itself a people's republic, launched a programme of ‘defeudalization’, involving the destruction of Lamaism. In 1931, when two provinces revolted against the Communist Party, religious buildings were destroyed and mass executions carried out on the orders of the Soviet dictator Stalin. An armed uprising by antigovernment forces in 1932 was suppressed with Soviet assistance. Marshal Horloogiyn Choybalsan, a former independence fighter, was the effective ruler of the nation until his death in 1952. China recognized its independence in 1946, but relations deteriorated as Mongolia took the Soviet side in the Sino-Soviet dispute. In 1966 Mongolia signed a 20-year friendship, cooperation, and mutual-assistance pact with the USSR, and some 60,000 Soviet troops based in the country caused China to see it as a Russian colony.

Economic change

Isolated from the outside world during the 1970s, under the leadership of Yumjaagiyn Tsedenbal (1916-1991) - the nation's dominant figure from 1958 - Mongolia underwent great economic change as urban industries developed and settled agriculture on the collective system spread, with new areas being brought under cultivation. Tsedenbal was deposed in 1984 by Jambyn Batmuntch.

Foreign contact and influence

After the accession to power in the USSR of Mikhail Gorbachev, Mongolia was encouraged to broaden its outside contacts. Cultural exchanges with China increased, diplomatic relations were established with the USA, and between 1987 and 1990 the number of Soviet troops stationed in the country was reduced from 80,000 to 15,000. Influenced by events in Eastern Europe, an opposition grouping, the Mongolian Democratic Union, was illegally formed in December 1989 and spearheaded a campaign demanding greater democratization. The Communist Party (MPRP), meanwhile, became committed to political and economic reform.

Multiparty politics

Free multiparty national elections and local municipal and people's hurals were held in July 1990. The MPRP secured 83% of the seats of the central parliament and 62% of the seats in the Little Hural, the central committee of the MPRP. The principal opposition body, the Democratic Party, led by Erdenijn Bat-Uul, captured only 5% of the seats.

The new assembly elected the MPRP's Punsalmaagiyn Ochirbat as president and Dashiyn Byambasuren as prime minister in September 1990.

In March 1991 Budragchaa Dashyondon was elected head of the MPRP to replace the allegedly too conservative Gombojavyn Ochirbat. In the wake of the anticommunist repercussions of the failed August 1991 anti-Gorbachev coup in the USSR, President Ochirbat resigned from the MPRP. Twelve former members of the MPRP were subsequently charged with corruption during their terms in office.

Towards a free-market economy

The government embarked on an ambitious but, in the short term, painful programme to achieve the transition from central planning to a market economy by 1994. Prices were freed, the currency was massively devalued, a new banking system and stock exchange were established, privatizations began, and the country joined the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank. The initial period saw a sharp decline in GDP which dropped by 10% in both 1991 and 1992 and during 1993 the economy contracted further, despite pledges of economic aid from Japan, loans from the IMF, and the signing of a Friendship and Cooperation Treaty with Russia. However, Mongolia's economy achieved a growth of 6% per annum by 1996, inflation was greatly reduced, and privatization began to take hold.

In June 1991, the word ‘Republic’ was dropped from the country's name and in October a law was passed providing for the private ownership of land. A new constitution came into force in January 1992. In June 1992 parliamentary elections the MPRP won a resounding victory. Free-market economist Puntsagiyn Jasray was elected prime minister by an overwhelming majority. In the country's first direct presidential election in June 1993, Punsalmaagiyn Ochirbat was re-elected, having stood on behalf of two small opposition parties, the National Democrats and the Social Democrats.

In elections to parliament at the end of June 1996, the MPRP was defeated by the Democratic Union Coalition, led by Radnaasumbere Gonchigdorj, which won more than 50 of the 76 assembly seats. The election ended 75 years of communist rule. Mendsayhany Enhsayhan was elected prime minister. In August a defence cooperation agreement was signed with the USA.

The opposition MPRP elected Natsagiyn Bagabandi as its new chairman in February 1997 and adopted a new policy programme.

In April 1997 parliament, dominated since June 1996 by the four-party, free-market Democratic Union Coalition, abolished all tariffs and trade taxes, becoming the only country in the world not to levy taxes on trade. However, the economic shock therapy programme, supervised by the IMF and World Bank, had caused unemployment to rise to over 15% and led to widening income differentials, food shortages, increased crime, and demonstrations against what had quickly become a highly unpopular government.

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, leader of the Mongolian National Democratic Party (MNDP), the largest party in the governing Democratic Union (DU) coalition, became prime minister in April 1998. The 35-year-old former journalist had helped topple Mongolia's communist rulers in 1990. In July 1998 his government was toppled, after losing a no-confidence vote, following a banking crisis. In August 1998 a series of attempts to form a new DU-led government, with Rinchinnyamiyn Amarjargal as prime minister, failed as a result of the president and parliament being unable to agree on a successor to the ousted Elbegdorj.

In December 1998 Janlaviyn Narantsatsralt, formerly mayor of Ulan Bator and a member of the MNDP, became prime minister. In July 1999 he was replaced by Rinchinnyamiyn Amarjargal, who left the cabinet unchanged. His government's priorities were financial reform, privatization, and the development of solar energy. A harsh winter 1999-2000, and the worst drought in 60 years in 2000, had a devastating effect on the country and the government's plans however: around three million livestock (almost 10% of the national total) died and the rural economy and society suffered terribly.

Mongolia's former communists, led by Nambariyn Enkhbayar (42), won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections in July 2000. The Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), which ruled for 70 years under Soviet instruction, re-branded itself as a centre-left party in the run-up to the elections. There had been growing disillusion with the DU arising from corruption allegations, increasing social inequalities, and the crisis caused by the deaths of cattle.

In December 2000, five opposition parties, including the Mongolian Social Democratic Party (MSDP) and the Mongolian National Democratic Party (MNDP) merged to form the Mongolian Democratic Party (MDP).

In May 2001, Natsagiyn Bagabandi of the MPRP was re-elected president with 58% of the vote. He pledged to press on with economic and legal reforms.

The results of the parliamentary elections of 2004 were contested, and political stalemate ensued, which was finally broken by the appointment of Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj as prime minister.

The presidential elections of May 2005 were won by the Nambaryn Enkhbayar of the MPRP.

In January 2006, Elbegdorj's coalition fell apart, when the MPRP withdrew from it. Miyeegombo Enkhbold of the MPRP became the new prime minister.

Chahar Gobi (desert)

Hohhot Khalkin Gol, Battle of

Mongol Mongolia, Inner

Nei Monggol Shaanxi

Ulaanbaatar