Category Archives: Elections

A Very Premature Outlook on the 2020 Parliamentary Election

By Julian Dierkes Yes, the 2020 election is more than a year away, and, yes, many observers lament the fact that politics seems beholden to electoral cycles. But, discussions in Mongolia have started to revolve around the 2020 election, and … Continue reading

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

The Likelihood of Political Renewal

By  Julian Dierkes Why I am generally optimistic about Mongolian developments, Mongolian politics presents a lot of challenges and the current state of affairs causes more despair than it has in the previous 12+ years that I’ve been paying attention. … Continue reading

Posted in Constitution, Corruption, Democracy, Democratic Party, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Ikh Khural 2020, Inequality, JD Democratization, Judiciary, Mining Governance, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Nationalism, Party Politics, Policy, Politics, Populism, Presidential 2021, Social Movements | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Hip Hop in Politics

By Paweł Szczap With hip-hop culture being often highly saturated with political and social commentaries, so far I have mostly concentrated on the presence of nationalist discourse within the Mongolian hip-hop scene. There are loads of material for research and … Continue reading

Posted in Ikh Khural 2016, Music, Music, Party Politics, Paweł Szczap, Politics, Pop Culture, Presidential 2017, Ulaanbaatar, Youth | Leave a comment

A Political Bowl of Цуйван

By Julian Dierkes Clearly, the second half of November into December 2018 has been an exciting time for observers of Mongolian politics. When the SME Fund scandal started gathering protest online, I was about to by an airplane ticket to … Continue reading

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

Party Implications of SME Fund Scandal

By Julian Dierkes Since late summer, I have been speculating about different scenarios to bring about a change in political culture and in the party landscape. These speculations focused on trigger evens that might lead to protests which would lead … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Will Green Party, Constitution, Corruption, Democracy, Governance, Ikh Khural 2020, Law, National Labor Party, Party Politics, Policy, Politics, Populism, Protest, Social Movements | Tagged | Leave a comment

Triggers of Upheaval

By Julian Dierkes The sense of political crisis and frustration is rampant in Mongolia at the moment. But, there does not seem to be any widespread mobilization against the government, either main party, or the political system. Whether that is … Continue reading

Posted in Air Pollution, Corruption, Democracy, Human Rights, Ikh Khural 2020, Inequality, JD Democratization, Judiciary, Party Politics, Politics, Populism, Protest, Public Opinion, Security Apparatus, Social Change, Social Movements, Younger Mongolians | Tagged | Leave a comment

MNB World Interview

In August, Julian Dierkes was interviewed on MNB World by Belgutei Tumendemberel.

Posted in Air Pollution, Civil Society, Corruption, Democracy, Elections, Governance, Party Politics, Politics, Younger Mongolians | Leave a comment

Pervasive Sense of (Political) Crisis

By Julian Dierkes During my most recent visit to Mongolia, I heard talk of political crisis everywhere. [A strong argument for visiting more often!] Not the kind of crisis that could be resolved by a change of government, although rumours … Continue reading

Posted in Democracy, Governance, Ikh Khural 2020, JD Democratization, Nationalism, Party Politics, Politics, Public Opinion, Social Media, Social Movements, Society and Culture | Tagged | Leave a comment

Joint Calls for Special Sessions to Removal of IAAC Leadership

by Mendee Jargalsaikhan & Julian Dierkes In May, we wrote a primer on the Independent Authority against Corruption. The АТГ has been back in the news recently, partly because of on-going investigations against former politicians, but also because of battles between … Continue reading

Posted in Corruption, Governance, Ikh Khural 2016, Judiciary, Politics, Public Service, Security Apparatus | Tagged | Leave a comment

Gender and Age in Voter Turnout

By Julian Dierkes Via a freedom of information request submitted my Mongol TV’s E Lkhagva, I have obtained information on the gender and age breakdown of voters in last year’s presidential election. As frequently described in election observation, Mongolian election … Continue reading

Posted in Demography, Elections, Ikh Khural 2016, Presidential 2017 | Tagged | Leave a comment

How We Covered the Presidential Election

By Julian Dierkes It’s been an exhausting but exhilarating summer, Mongolia’s election season. I tried – together with a number of students – to provide observations, interpretations and analyses of the campaigns and both rounds of voting. I reported on … Continue reading

Posted in Presidential 2017 | Tagged | 2 Comments

Guest Post: Beyond the Ballot – Mongolia’s General Election Commission

By Jessica Keegan Mongolia’s General Election Commission (GEC) has been in existence since 1992 and is responsible for administering free, fair and credible elections. As with any young democracy, the institution has at times struggled to keep up with Mongolia’s … Continue reading

Posted in Elections, Jessica Keegan, Presidential 2017, Public Opinion, Public Service | Leave a comment

Beyond “Populism without Party Platforms”: Mongolians’ Politics Beyond Ulaanbaatar

By Marissa Smith The campaign and election of the rough-voiced businessman-judoka Kh. Battulga to the presidency of Mongolia has elicited comparisons to Donald Trump and gestures to a global wave of “populism” from analysts and commentators, journalistic as well as … Continue reading

Posted in Countryside, Democratic Party, Demography, Elections, Erdenet, Kazakhs, Marissa Smith, Mongolian Diaspora, Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, Populism, Presidential 2017 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Battulga, What Kind of President?

By Julian Dierkes Kh Battulga has been elected president. That means the dominance of the president’s office by the DP will continue another four years past Ts Elbegdorj’s two terms. But what kind of president will Battulga be? While the … Continue reading

Posted in Constitution, Corruption, Democracy, Governance, JD Democratization, Party Politics, Politics, Presidential 2017 | Tagged | 1 Comment

Populism and the Judiciary

By Julian Dierkes Populists around the world seem to be targeting the judiciary as some kind of obstacle to implementing the “people’s will”. Most recently, this is happening in Poland, where the governing party PiS is trying to usurp rights … Continue reading

Posted in Corruption, Judiciary, Presidential 2017 | Tagged | 2 Comments