Parliamentary elections were held in Mongolia on 29 June 2008. A total of 356 candidates ran for the 76 seats in the State Great Khural. According to official results 45 seats were won by the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), and 28 seats by the main opposition party, the Democratic Party (DP).

Electoral system Members of the State Great Khural were elected from multi-seat constituencies in a plurality-at-large system, with two to four seats per aimag or (in Ulaanbaatar) düüreg."Mongolia to hold parliamentary election end of June", Xinhua (People's Daily Online), 2008-05-09. Previous elections had single-seat constituencies, and the new, more complicated voting system was reported to have led to a delay in vote counting.Mongolia sees counting of votes delayed by new election system . Mongolia Web News. 2008-06-30. Retrieved 2008-07-02.

Of the 76 seats, 20 were elected from Ulaanbaatar, and the other 56 were elected from the 21 aimags. Mongolian voter registration is coupled with civil registration. Vote counting was manually done by hands and was not publicly done, and results of individual polling stations were not published. After the 2004 parliamentary elections had been contested in some constituencies, Mongolian voters now have their thumbs marked after casting their vote.

Contesting parties

Pre-election composition 356 candidates were officially registered by the General Election Commission of Mongolia for the election, of whom 28 of them were incumbents,Polling stations busy as voters queue up across Mongolia . Agence France-Presse. Google News. 2008-06-30. Retrieved 2008-07-02. 45 were independents and 311 were from the following 11 political parties and 1 coalition:Preliminary results: Mongolia's ruling party wins parliamentary election. People's Daily Online. 2008-06-30. Retrieved 2008-07-02. PartyMongolian People's Revolutionary PartyDemocratic PartyCivil Will PartyCivic Coalition (MGP, Civil Movement Party, MSDP)Mongolian Traditional United PartyMotherland PartyMongolian Liberal PartyRepublican PartyNew National PartyFreedom Implementing PartyDevelopment Programme PartyMongolian Democratic Movement Party Both the DP and the MPRP promised cash payouts in case of an election win. The DP promised 1,000,000 MNT (about 800 USD) per person in case of an election win. After first denouncing the idea of such payouts, the MPRP changed course and promised 1,500,000 MNT per person. Other issues were inflation and mining. As in previous elections, there were instances of candidates making monetary payments and other gifts to lure voters.

Results According to results published on 14 July, the MPRP won at least 39 seats, the DP won at least 25, at least one seat was going to the Civic Will Party, and three seats were won by independent candidates. However, results from three constituencies (Khentii, Dornod, and Bayangol) were delayed.Two parties win most seats in Mongolian parliamentary election – People's Daily Online On 20 August, final results from Khentii were officially published, raising the number of MPRP seats to 45.Aktuelle Nachrichten aus der Mongolei / 25. bis 31. August 2008 (in German) Turnout was 76.46%, considerably lower than the 82% of the 2004 elections.Parliamentary elections successfully completed (in Mongolian). olloo.mn.

Results by constituency Results by constituency

Aftermath

Allegations of fraud After intermediate results published on 30 June showed MPRP victory, Democratic Party (DP) chairman Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj declared on 1 July that the elections were rigged and that his party would not accept the results.. Reuters. 2008-07-01. In a press conference held on 7 July, DP politicians Dambiin Dorligjav, Zandaakhuugiin Enkhbold, and Lamjavyn Gündalai declared that there had been massive irregularities with voter registration. Some of their claims were later repudiated by the central registry office.www.mongolei.de: Aktuelle Nachrichten aus der Mongolei / 7. bis 13. Juli 2008 (in German) Other allegations were irregularities in the counting process, and voter bribery.

For illegally using private documents of voters such as duplicating names of voters by (publishing duplicate IDs and false IDs with the names of dead people and so on) in the 2008 election, L.Amarsanaa (MPRP), former chairman of State General Registration Authority was investigated by the Independent Authority Against Corruption and charged in September 2008.

Violence

On 1 July a peaceful gathering started in Sukhbaatar Square organized by the opposition party leaders that took part in the elections. Eventually a large crowd gathered, mainly of young men, surrounding the adjacent MPRP Headquarters. The group started throwing rocks at the building and eventually advancing on it. Smaller police force responded with batons, water cannons, tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition.Mongolia: President Enkhbayar Releases Statement. Mongolia Web News. 2008-07-01.UBPost:MP Battulga Speaks About Riot Aftermath In the evening fire started in the MPRP headquarters. Not enough measures to stop the riot or extinguish the fire were taken by the authority. Around midnight local time, after simply watching the live broadcast of the riot whole day on television channels, President Nambaryn Enkhbayar declared a state of emergency to be in effect for the following four days.Mongolia: MPRP building in flames, president declares emergency . Mongolia Web News. 2008-07-01. Armored Personnel Carriers were deployed to the streets of Ulaanbaatar, a night curfew and a media blackout were declared.

Five people, all of them civilians, were killed during the state of emergency: four were shot, and one apparently died from carbon monoxide poisoning.5,000 người Mông Cổ tràn ngập thủ đô đòi giải tán quốc hội The Mongolian Minister of Justice estimated 220 civilians and 108 service members were injured. Amnesty International raised concerns over the use of "unnecessary and excessive force" by the police.Amnesty International: Are the Mongolian authorities getting away with murder?) Approximately 700 people were later arrested suspected to be being protesters,Magnie, Mark. Postelection violence in Mongolia leaves 5 dead. Los Angeles Times. 2008-07-03. of whom 140, including 13 minors and 3 women, have been sentenced to 2–7 years in prison as of 31 October 2008.The number of convicts sentenced to prison for July 1st incident reached 140

On 15 and 19 August, ten police officers were arrested and charged in connection with the shootings in the night of 1 and 2 July. On 20 August, relatives of these arrested officers organized a protest demonstration on Sükhbaatar Square.UBPost: Arrested Mongolian Police Officers are Suspects in Post-Riot Death InvestigationsMongolia Police Arrest Controversy Continues; Officers and Their Families Protestwww.mongolei.de: Aktuelle Nachrichten aus der Mongolei / 18. bis 24. August 2008 (in German)

Political aftermath

On 18 July, DP chairman Elbegdorj announced his party's boycott of the opening session of parliament on 23 July. He also said that he was prepared to resign as DP chairman if the 200 protesters still being held by the police are not released and the political crisis did not end."In Mongolia Democratic Party seems divided, Elbegdorj announces possible resignation", Mongolia Web, July 19, 2008.

On 28 August, most of the DP representatives in the new State Great Khural (the Parliament) decided to attend the parliament, and all but Elbegdorj were sworn in. Many of the DP lawmakers criticized the Chairman of the General Elections Commission and the way the elections were held.

On 2 September 2008, Elbegdorj resigned as the head of the Democratic Party as he said. Norovyn Altankhuyag was elected by the DP's National Consultative Committee as the next chairman, and the DP entered a coalition government with the MPRP. After Elbegdorj gave his party's position, members of the DP went out of the parliament. As a result, the new members of the parliament were not sworn in.

On 11 September, now ex-chairman Elbedorj was sworn into parliament alongside the re-appointment of incumbent prime minister and MPRP chairman Sanjiin Bayar. Bayar was re-elected as the 25th Prime Minister of Mongolia with 65 infavour and 1 against; Elbegdorj being the only one to vote against.Aktuelle Nachrichten aus der Mongolei/ 25. bis 31. August 2008, Aktuelle Nachrichten aus der Mongolei/ 8. bis 14. September 2008 (in German) In his second tenure, Bayar led a coalition government between the MPRP and the DP.AFP: Mongolian parliament elects PM after turmoil

The members from Dornod (two MPRP, one DP) were sworn in on 16 September 2008. The members from Bayangol (2 MPRP, 1 DP, 1 Civic Coalition) were announced on 9 October 2008.

On 24 May 2009, nearly a year after the crisis, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj won the 2009 presidential election against incumbent President Enkhbayar.

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