Mongolia - Political parties



The Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), which had been the single ruling party since 1924, legalized opposition parties in 1990. In addition to the MPRP, major parties prior to the 2000 elections included the Democratic Union Coalition (DUC), which included the Mongolian National Democratic Party (MNDP), the Mongolian Social Democratic Party (MSDP), the Green Party (NYAM), and the Mongolian Democratic Party of Believers (MDPB); Mongolian Conservative Party (MCP); Democratic Power Coalition, which included the Mongolian Democratic Renaissance Party (MDRP) and Mongolian People's Party (MPP); Mongolian National Solidarity Party (MNSP); Bourgeois Party/Capitalist Party; United Heritage Party (UHP), which included the United Party of Herdsman and Farmers, Independence Party; Traditional United Conservative Party, and Mongolian United Private Property Owners Party; and the Mongolian Workers Party. The Democratic Union Coalition broke into its constituent parties prior to the July 2000 elections, and reorganized itself as the Mongolian Democratic Party in order to participate in the May 2001 presidential election.

In the first election for the State Great Hural (SGH) 28 June 1992, the MPRP won 56.9% of the vote and 71 of 76 seats in the SGH. In the first direct presidential election, 6 June 1993, President Punsalmaagiyn Ochirbat (first elected president 3 September 1990) was reelected with 58% of the vote. A former member of the MPRP, Ochirbat defeated that party's candidate, running as head of a coalition of the SDP and MNDP.

In the elections of 30 June 1996, the Democratic Union Coalition (which included the MNDP, the MSDP, and two smaller parties) defeated the MPRP, winning 50 of 76 seats (an increase of 44 seats). The MPRP won 25 seats, and the remaining seat went to the MCP. The DUC campaign platform included the Mongolia's Contract With Voters, which promised to cut government spending, reduce welfare, and reorganize the transformation of the government.

In the July 2000 parliamentary elections, MRPR candidates won 72 or the 76 seats, with the remaining 4 seats won (one each) by MNDP, the Civil Courage Party or Civil Will Party (CWP) in alliance with the Mongolian Green, the Motherland Alliance (the Mongol Democratic New Socialist Party and the Mongolian Labor Party), and an independent non-partisan candidate. As of late 2002, there were 18 political parties operating in Mongolia.

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