A Vital PhaseIn Emerging Democracy

July 2021 \ MONGOLIA

A Vital PhaseIn Emerging Democracy

Continuity of Mongolia’s peace-loving, open, independent and multi-aligned foreign policy reconfirmed by the new President ...

By ChanravynBurenbayar

The powers of the President

UkhnaagiinKhurelsukh replaced KhaltmaagiinBattulga who served as the country’s Head of State for one term of four years from 2017-2021. The previous President sought re-election but was denied the opportunity because of the recent changes to the country’s constitution that restricted the previous and presidents serving before 2021 to only one term in office.

According to the amended Constitution, the President, specifically, UkhnaagiinKhurelsukh, who was elected will also serve only one term in office for six years up to the next election now in 2027.

The priorities of the new President’s policy

President U. Khurelsukh’s election campaign slogan was “Mongolia – owner of its wealth.” Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony, he said that his priority in the next six years would be to “build and develop a powerful and strong Mongolia that would ensure economic independence and autonomy of the country, and create opportunities to guarantee that the people would live a happy, content and a fully meaningful life.”

It however remains unclear what the MPP’s consolidation of power will mean for the country’s biggest foreign investment project, the OyuTolgoi copper mine run by the international mining giant Rio Tinto, as the Government wants to renegotiate the deal as the construction costs surge, leaving the economy of the country gasping for funds until the mine starts generating revenues, which is still almost a decade away.

President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh

He was born in Ulaanbaatar in 1968. He is married with 2 daughters. He completed his secondary education in 1985 and in 1989 graduated as a political scientist from the Defence University. In 1994 U. Khurelsukh graduated from the State Administration and Management Development Institute and in 2000 from the Law College of the Mongolian National University. In 2000-2008 he was elected as a Member of State IkhKhural (Parliament). From 2004 to 2006 he served as Cabinet Member and Minister of Emergency, and as Cabinet Member and Minister of Specialised Inspection from 2006 to 2008. In 2008 he was elected as the Secretary General of the Mongolian People’s Party (2008-2012) and in 2017 he was elected the Chairman of the MPP (2017-2021). On 25 June 2021, when he became the President of Mongolia, he gave up his Chairmanship of the Mongolian People’s Party and has relinquished his membership in the party, as provided for in the Constitution, as the President is the Head of State and the symbol of unity of the people. From 2012 to 2013 he was again elected a Member of State IkhKhural and from 2014 to 2015 and again from 2016 to 2017 U. Khurelsukh served as a Cabinet member and Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia. Then from 2017 to 2021 he was elected as the 30th Prime Minister of Mongolia and the 31st Prime Minister following the MPP’s victory in the Parliamentary elections in 2020, when he also served as a member of the State IkhKhural. On 25 June 2021 UkhnaakgiinKhurelsukh was elected as the Sixth President of Mongolia, and concurrently as the Chairman of the National Security Council of Mongolia and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Mongolia.

The future of this giant investment, to a large extent, may help the new President live up to this commitment to work hand-in-hand with the Parliament and the Government, within the framework of law, to implement into practical life the goals and objectives of making Mongolia into an industrialised, export-oriented country. By this he means the processing of animal-origin raw materials into value-added export products, and ensuring that the mineral resources of the country serve the interests of the people and the nation since the “Mongols are the masters of their wealth” as the campaign slogan of the new President suggests.