By Bulgan Batdorj
There are total of 1,340 candidates across 13 constituency regions and the party list. Of these candidates, 498 (37%) are women and 842 (64.3%) are men. It looks that the women quota and the zipper system in the party list have helped increase the number of women candidates. Women comprise 32% (316/969) of the candidates at the constituency level. On the party list, women account for 49% (182/371) of the candidates. The 2020 Ikh Hural election had a 20% of women quota, and there were 151 or 24.5% of women out of 606 candidates. The quota increase to 30% have helped to bring out the number of women candidates by 12.5% (see here for the new election system here)
Women candidates at the party level:
The party with the highest number of women candidates is the KhUN party, with 57 women (46%) out of 92 candidates. The Civil Movement Party is second, with 54 women (43%) out of 125 candidates.
The Mongolian Liberal Democratic Party and Motherlanders United Party have one woman candidate, thus making them 100% women’s parties. The CUP party has the highest percentage of women candidates, at 60%, with 34 women out of 57 candidates. The Good Democratic Citizen’s United Party and KhUN party have 47% of women candidates.
| Party | Women | Men | Total | Women Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mongolian Liberal Democratic Party | 1 | 0 | 1 | 100% |
| Motherlanders United Party | 1 | 0 | 1 | 100% |
| CUP | 34 | 23 | 57 | 60% |
| Good Democratic Citizen’s United Party | 26 | 29 | 55 | 47% |
| KhUN | 57 | 65 | 122 | 47% |
| Civil Movement Party | 54 | 70 | 124 | 44% |
| Civil Will Green Party | 30 | 42 | 72 | 42% |
| Mongolian Conservative Party | 9 | 13 | 22 | 41% |
| National Coalition | 28 | 41 | 69 | 41% |
| True and Righteous Party | 32 | 48 | 80 | 40% |
| Republic Party | 21 | 33 | 54 | 39% |
| People’s Power Party | 23 | 37 | 60 | 38% |
| People’s Majoritarian Governance Party | 26 | 45 | 71 | 37% |
| Motherland Party | 15 | 28 | 43 | 35% |
| For the Mongolian People’s Party | 14 | 28 | 42 | 33% |
| Mongolian Social Democratic Party | 2 | 4 | 6 | 33% |
| New United Coalition | 28 | 62 | 90 | 31% |
| Freedom Implementer Party | 9 | 21 | 30 | 30% |
| Freedom Coalition Party | 14 | 33 | 47 | 30% |
| Democratic Party | 37 | 89 | 126 | 29% |
| Mongolian People’s Party | 37 | 89 | 126 | 29% |
| Independent candidate | 0 | 42 | 42 | 0% |
The ruling MPP and opposition DP party have 37 women candidates, representing 29.4% of their total candidates. All the other 19 parties have reached the quota of 30% women representation.
Women candidates at the constituency level:
The constituencies with the highest number of women candidates are Constituency 5 (Darkhan-Uul, Selenge, and Tuv), with 41 women out of 119 candidates, and Bayanzurkh, with 36 women out of 83 candidates. The constituency with the highest percentage of women candidates is Constituency 12 (Baganuur, Bagakhangai, Nalaikh), where 14 out of 32 total candidates (44%) are women who are competing for two seats only.
| Constituency | Female | Male | Grand Total | Number of seats per Constituency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 – Bayan-Ulgii | 4 | 19 | 23 | 3 |
| 13 – Baganuur, Bagakhangai, Nalaikh | 14 | 18 | 32 | 2 |
| 9 – Bayangol | 16 | 34 | 50 | 3 |
| 12 – Khan-Uul | 19 | 30 | 49 | 3 |
| 6 – Dornod, Sukhbaatar, Khentii | 22 | 54 | 76 | 7 |
| 2 – Govi-Altai, Zavkhan, Khovd, Uvs | 25 | 90 | 115 | 10 |
| 4 – Bulgan, Khuvsgul, Orkhon | 25 | 61 | 86 | 8 |
| 1 – Arkhangai, Uvurkhangai, Bayankhongor | 26 | 54 | 80 | 9 |
| 11 – Songinokhairkhan | 27 | 58 | 85 | 5 |
| 10 – Sukhbaatar, Chingeltei | 30 | 63 | 93 | 6 |
| 7 – Govisumber, Dornogovi, Dundgovi, Umnugovi | 31 | 47 | 78 | 7 |
| 8 – Bayanzurkh | 36 | 47 | 83 | 5 |
| 5 – Darkhan-Uul, Selenge, Tuv | 41 | 78 | 119 | 10 |
Constituency 3 (Bayan-Ulgii) has the fewest women candidates, with four out of 23 candidates running for 3 seats. Constituency 2 (Govi-Altai, Zavkhan, Khovd, and Uvs) has the second-lowest female representation, with 25 out of 115 candidates running for ten seats.
Women candidates in general:
It is disappointing that the ruling party, MPP, and the main opposition DP have not only a broken zipper in the party list, nominating 23 women and 25 men instead of 24 each but also have not met the quota of 30% overall. They have nominated 37 women, representing 29.4% of women. The reasons behind this are not the lack of qualified women candidates but rather an entrenched/paternal party culture and old-boys networks in these parties and the lack of these parties’ institutional commitments to gender equity.
Among the remaining 19 parties, two met the 30% quota, and 16 exceeded this quota with an average representation of 47%. Even if the two parties have only one woman representation removed, the average women representation is 40%.
Another interesting thing with the candidates is that all 42 independent candidates are male, and two women candidates are running from two minor parties, the Mongolian Liberal Democratic Party and Motherlanders United Party.
Note: I used the Сонгууль 2024 (ikon.mn) and supplemented the information with candidate.mn – Бие Даагч in identifying the genders.
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