Author Archives: Julian Dierkes

About Julian Dierkes

Julian Dierkes is a sociologist by training (PhD Princeton Univ) and a Mongolist by choice and passion since around 2005. He teaches in the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He toots @jdierkes@sciences.social.

Vote Spreads

Posted on June 24, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes One of the big questions about the multi-member plurality voting system adopted for the parliamentary election was what the minimum number of votes would be to win a seat, especially since minimum thresholds had been abandoned this … Continue reading →

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Zoom: Mongolia Campaign Update II

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

On June 22, we held another panel presentation/discussion about the 2020 parliamentary election campaign. The campaign will end shortly to take a daylong break before election day on June 24. We provide a general update on the campaign, but will … Continue reading →

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Posted in Education, Gender, Ikh Khural 2020, Party Politics, Social Media | Leave a comment

Guest Post: The Effects of Vote-Buying in Mongolia

Posted on June 20, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Johann Fuhrmann and Max Duckstein As we get closer to election day, the topic of vote-buying is increasingly coming up in daily conversations in Mongolia. Despite anecdotal evidence of vote-buying being widespread, statistically informed knowledge about the extent of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Democracy, Elections, Ikh Khural 2016, Ikh Khural 2020, Johann Fuhrmann, Law, Max Duckstein, Morals, Party Politics, Politics | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Active but Unrepresented Players – Women’s Political Engagement in Comparative Perspective

Posted on June 18, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Camille Barras A demographic analysis of candidates to the 2020 Ikh Khural elections has unveiled a low share of women among candidates – just over the 20% legal quota for the two main parties and about 14% only among … Continue reading →

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Posted in Camille Barras, Democracy, Demography, Elections, Gender, Ikh Khural 2016, Ikh Khural 2020, Presidential 2017 | Leave a comment

Campaign Strategies under Bloc Voting

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes One of the great puzzles of the Mongolian electoral system choice of multi-member pluralities is how to run a strategic campaign for a party. If I imagined myself to be a campaign operator, what would I do? … Continue reading →

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Posted in Democratic Party, Elections, Ikh Khural 2020, JD Democratization, Mongolian People's Party, Party Politics, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Electoral District Demographic Analysis

Posted on June 16, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Robert Ritz The current election saw a switch back to the block voting system used in 1992 and 2008. This system has both positives and negatives, and this system has much larger election districts than the previous single-member districts of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Countryside, Demography, Employment, Ikh Khural 2020, Inequality, Infrastructure, Mining, Population, Robert Ritz, Social Issues, Ulaanbaatar | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Women’s Voter Turnout – Substantial Reverse Gender Gap

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Camille Barras  Previous posts in Mongolia Focus have addressed the issue of women’s political representation, for example concerning the share of candidates in the upcoming elections. Women’s participation as voters is another important facet of women political empowerment. In … Continue reading →

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Posted in Camille Barras, Demography, Elections, Gender, Ikh Khural 2016, Ikh Khural 2020, Presidential 2017 | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Comparing Party Election Platforms: Economic Policy

Posted on June 13, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Ariuntuya Nominkhuu and Batbold Otgonbayar Parties’ platforms contain numerous promises to restore the economy and create new jobs by expanding the heavy industry sector. This year’s elections are taking place against the backdrop of the unforeseen economic crisis caused … Continue reading →

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Posted in Ariuntuya Nominkhuu, Banking, Batbold Otgonbayar, Business, Democratic Party, Diversification, Employment, Ikh Khural 2020, Mongolian People's Party, National Labor Party, Party Politics, Policy, Public Policy, Taxes | Leave a comment

Zoom: Mongolia Campaign Update

Posted on June 12, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

On June 12, roughly halfway through the parliamentary election campaign, we presented an update on the campaign via Zoom. In this event, we provided an update on how the campaign is unfolding under COVID-19 restrictions. We discussed the campaign platforms … Continue reading →

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Guest Post: Comparing Party Election Platforms on Mining Policy

Posted on June 10, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Ariuntuya Nominkhuu and Batbold Otgonbayar Right now we are living interesting pre-election days in Mongolia. Due to pandemic-related restrictions, the election with the largest number of candidates in the history of parliamentary elections of Mongolia or 606 people is … Continue reading →

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Posted in Ariuntuya Nominkhuu, Batbold Otgonbayar, Democratic Party, Erdenet, Ikh Khural 2020, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Mongolian People's Party, National Labor Party, Oyu Tolgoi, Party Politics, Policy, Public Policy, Sovereign Wealth Fund | Leave a comment

Election Predictions

Posted on June 9, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes No, please do not worry, I am not actually going to make any predictions. But here is why and what that means… Election Law The Election Law prohibits polling during the campaign. The wording has also been … Continue reading →

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Posted in Elections, Ikh Khural 2020, Party Politics, Politics, Public Opinion | Tagged | Leave a comment

Parties and Candidate Demography Update

Posted on June 5, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes The final list of 606 approved candidates was released at the beginning of the week and we, here at Mongolia Focus, are still processing the approval or lack thereof of certain candidates. The picture has changed a … Continue reading →

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Posted in Ikh Khural 2020, JD Democratization | Tagged | Leave a comment

Non-Partisan Public Endorsement of Candidates

Posted on June 3, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Two new actors announced themselves on the political scene last year, both non-partisan groupings seeking to support qualified candidates for public office: ЭЛЕКТОРАТ & Уухай. Elder Statesmen Elektorat (I somehow prefer the German-looking “k” ending over electorate) … Continue reading →

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Posted in Ikh Khural 2020, Politics | Leave a comment

Zoom: Mongolia Election Preview, June 1

Posted on June 2, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

On June 1, just before the official start of the election campaign in Mongolia, I presented a preview of the election in a Zoom session. Watch the recording of my presentation here: Errata Somehow, I skipped over my introduction slide. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Democracy, Democratic Party, Elections, Ikh Khural 2020, Mongolian People's Party, National Labor Party, Party Politics, Public Opinion, Video | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Four Things We Learned from Young Voters’ Survey

Posted on June 1, 2020 by Julian Dierkes

By BOLDSAIKHAN Sambuu Youth abstention is fast becoming a hot topic in Mongolia as the parliamentary elections come right around the corner. This is partly because, in this year’s elections, both major and new parties, such as the National Labor … Continue reading →

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Posted in Boldsaikhan Sambuu, Elections, Ikh Khural 2016, Ikh Khural 2020, Party Politics, Younger Mongolians, Youth | Leave a comment