By Marissa J. Smith
A brief summary of trends I am observing on Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit:
Candidate Assets
Besides its usual excellent infographics presenting candidates and parties, ikon.mn has also released data visualizations on candidate’s assets (“Candidates of MPP, DP, HUN and National Alliance are leading in terms of the number of shares in the largest number of companies”). These have been being shared and discussed in the last day or two.
Short Form Video
While pictures of some of the campaign poster boards that Julian wrote about are circulating online, some parties have invested in the production of short form videos featuring candidates. CUP and PPP, lead respectively by former DP MPs Ts. Oyungerel and L. Gundalai, have also released one-on-one “podcast” like clips with some of their candidates. Those that I have viewed are autobiographical in nature, as printed campaign materials in past elections have been.
This example for an MPP candidate running for a seat in a non-Ulaanbaatar constituency establishes the candidate as a highly educated urbanite with an established lineage based in a rural locality (nutag). As is not uncommon with MPP promotional materials, the 20th and 21st Centuries are presented as following a continuous path of historical development:
УГИЙН ГАРАЛ-УДМЫН ХЭЛХЭЭ
Миний өвөө Я.Чойжамц Төв аймгийн Угтаал-Цайдам, Баянцогт, Алтанбулаг сумдад малын эмчээр ажиллаж байх үед нь авга ах МУ-ын Хөдөлмөрийн баатар Ч.Баяраа Угтаал-Цайдам суманд төрж өссөн.
Өвөөгийнх 1960 онд Сэлэнгийн Зүүнхараагийн сангийн аж ахуй руу… pic.twitter.com/NPf2CEQ2Bv— Чинбатын Ундрам (@UndramChinbat) June 15, 2024
This example, from DP breakaway CUP, in a diametrical contrast to MPP tropes, invokes the post-socialist period of transition navigated by entrepreneurial youth:
(This candidate’s meme-styled printed poster also elicited much comment on social media: https://www.reddit.com/r/mongolia/comments/1dfnwfz/election_in_mongolia_goes_crazy/)
Public assemblies
Social media-based parallels to assemblies on the central square of Ulaanbaatar have also crossed my feed, though none of these has as of yet taken off, become associated with a hashtag and gone viral.
On the evening of June 15, the DP held a memorial gathering, photos of which are circulating on Facebook and Twitter. As reported by Xinhua and Agence France Press, in addition to Mongolian media, a DP party member and local leader was beaten and killed by a campaigner for an MPP candidate in Uvurkhangai aimag (part of the highly contested #1 constituency) on June 15. The candidate’s status has been revoked. As included in the DP’s facebook post, DP leader L. Gantumur called for an official apology from the MPP and that all MPP candidates for constituency #1 remove themselves from the election (this would include incumbent Speaker of Parliament Zandanshatar and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Battsetseg).
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