Parliamentary elections were held in Mongolia on 28 June 1992,Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p490 the first to be held after the adoption of the 1992 constitution. The result was a victory for the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), which won 70 of the 76 seats in the State Great Khural. The Democratic Alliance, a coalition between three opposition parties, placed second with 4 seats, followed by the Mongolian Social Democratic Party and an independent with a single seat. Voter turnout was at 95.60%.Nohlen et al., p491

During the campaign, the MPRP, the former sole legal party, distanced itself from Marxism–Leninism, framing itself instead as a centrist party. However, the leadership of the party was the same as during the communist period. The success of the MPRP in the elections was considered to be due to its larger nationwide party structure and implementation of a majoritarian system that favoured the dominant party.

Background

Fall of communism

The MPRP was the sole legal ruling party of the Mongolian People's Republic since the Mongolian Revolution of 1921.

Following mass pro-democracy demonstrations organized by the Mongolian Democratic Union (MDU) in late 1989 and early 1990, the General Secretary of the MPRP, Jambyn Batmönkh, and other politburo leaders announced their resignation in March 1990, paving the way for democratic change in Mongolia.

On 21 March 1990, during the 8th Extraordinary People's Grand Khural session, the following constitutional provision: "The guiding force of the Mongolian People's Republic is the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, which uses the all-conquering Marxist-Leninist theory in its operations." was removed from the Constitution of the MPR; officially ending 70 years of one-party rule.

Transition to democracy

The first multi-party elections were held in July 1990 for the People's Grand Khural and the newly established standing legislature, the State Little Khural, with a high turnout of 98%. The MPRP won a majority in both houses, while four opposition parties made modest gains. The largest opposition was the Mongolian Democratic Party (MDP), which had 16 and 13 seats in the upper and lower houses. The MDP was followed by the Mongolian National Progress Party (MNPP) with 6 and 3 seats, the Mongolian Social Democratic Party (MSDP) with 4 seats in both legislatures in the People's Grand Khural.

Economist Dashiin Byambasüren (MPRP) was appointed the next prime minister on 11 September, along with the president and the vice president. Despite the MPRP's majority, Byambasüren established a grand coalition government with the opposition MDP and the MNPP in September 1990. The chairman of the MNPP, Davaadorjiin Ganbold, became the First Deputy Prime Minister, while deputy chairman of the MDP, Dambiin Dorligjav, became Deputy Prime Minister.

In April 1991, political developments within the MDU, Mongolia's largest non-governmental pro-democracy organization, led Sanjaasürengiin Zorig, a key leader of the 1990 revolution, to resign from his positions in the MDU. He also left the MDP to establish the Republican Party () in June 1991. Later in February 1992, his party merged with the Free Labour Party and factions of the MDU to found the Mongolian United Party (MUP).

In January 1992, a new constitution was ratified, which renamed the country Mongolia and established a unicameral legislature, the State Great Khural, which was to be elected in the next election.

Electoral system According to the new Law on Elections, the 76 members of the State Great Khural were to be elected from multi-member constituencies organized 70 days before polling day. For the June 28 election, the country was divided into 26 electoral districts, which had a varying number of elected winners (2 to 4). With the addition of Article 35, Section 2 of the election law (which requires each voter to cast votes equal to the number of eligible seats in their district), the elections were to be conducted under a multi-member majoritarian system.

The new electoral law also stated that the election results of electoral districts that didn't meet the 50% turnout benchmark were to be invalidated, and any vacancy seats created in parliament would be filled by the next highest vote winner in the June election. Due to the lack of opposition organization and party structure, a delegation from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) found that the MPRP was overwhelmingly favoured by the majoritarian system.

Contesting parties The new electoral law and implementation of a majoritarian system raised concerns within the Mongolian opposition. In reaction to the majoritarian systems, the main opposition parties (the MDP, the MNPP, and the MUP) announced an electoral coalition on 23 April 1992, when the three party chairmen signed an agreement.

For the 1992 parliamentary election, 293 candidates were registered by the newly established General Election Commission, of whom 18 were independents, and 275 were running from the following 8 political parties and 2 coalitions. PartyTotalMongolian People's Revolutionary Party76Democratic Alliance(Mongolian Democratic Party–Mongolian National Progress Party–Mongolian United Party)48Mongolian Social Democratic Party2819Mongolian United Party of Private Owners20Mongolian Party for Independence24Mongolian Bourgeois Party17Mongolian Renaissance Party28Mongolian Religious Democratic Party–Mongolian People's Party9Mongolian Green Party6Total275

Campaign Polling was conducted during an ongoing economic crisis, marked by high inflation, unemployment, raw material scarcity, and food shortages. During the campaign, the three-party opposition coalition complained of its restricted access to the mass media compared to the MPRP and underlined the recently disastrous management that had led to economic disruptions.

Results The Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party achieved a supermajority of 70 seats (92% of the total seats), despite receiving around 50% of the total constituency vote. The primary opposition coalition, between the Mongolian Democratic Party, the Mongolian National Progress Party, and the Mongolian United Party, won 4 seats in the State Great Khural. The Mongolian Social Democratic Party and an independent politician in Govi-Altai Province each won a single seat.

Results by constituency Results by constituency

Aftermath The three parties of the Democratic Alliance, the MDP, the MNPP, and the MUP, announced their decision to unite into a single party shortly after the election results on 30 June 1992. The same day, during a joint nine-party opposition press conference, the parties highlighted vote splitting and different portions of representation, stating that the MPRP (with 90% parliamentary representation) received 50% of the total vote, while the other half was distributed among the many parties. The MDP, the MNPP, the MUP, and the Mongolian Renaissance Party, which ran independently, officially merged into the Mongolian National Democratic Party on 25 October 1992.

On 5 December 1993, the Mongolian Party for Independence, the Mongolian United Party of Herdsman and Farmers, and the Mongolian United Party of Private Owners merged to form the Mongolian Traditional United Party, a right-wing nationalist party.

Badamdorjiin Batkhishig, the deputy chairman of the MPRP's Central Committee, stated that the party was not celebrating its landslide victory due to Mongolia's dire economic situation. MPRP member of parliament-elect and economist, Puntsagiin Jasrai, was appointed as the next prime minister on 21 July 1992, during the plenary session of the State Great Khural. He formed an all-MPRP cabinet, which served its full four-year term.

References

External links

Mongolia: An Assessment of the Election to the Great Peoples Hural - June 1992 by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems