Democratic Party demands Speaker to hold irregular parliamentary session

The Democratic Party (DP) caucus met on August 8 to discuss amendments to the 2017 state budget, changes in the draft of constitutional amendments and winter preparation.

After the meeting, Vice Speaker of Parliament Ya.Sanjmytav, MPs J.Batzandan and A.Murat held a press conference about the caucus’ decisions from the meeting.

Vice Caucus Chairman of the DP J.Batzandan stated that prior to the July 7 run-off presidential election, the government decided to provide the children’s monthly welfare allowance of 20,000 MNT to all Mongolian children and to reimburse children who have not received their children’s money since January, and as all children have received their monthly state welfares from January to July, the financial resources included in the 2017 state budget are about to run out, which is why the DP demands the Speaker of Parliament to announce an irregular parliamentary session to review state budget amendments.

He noted that if Parliament doesn’t amend the state budget soon, children will not be able to receive their welfare in August.

J.Batzandan stressed that despite the fact that open discussions on constitutional amendments are taking place across Mongolia, public participation in discussions is very low and only heads of local government offices are meeting, and said the task forces organizing workshops and discussions on constitutional amendments need to focus on increasing public participation in further discussions.

He added that the party has unanimously agreed to make amendments to the Constitution, but noted that under the proposed amendments, the part giving the President the right to put forward a bill to Parliament has been eliminated. If Parliament approves the amendments, J.Batzandan said President Kh.Battulga’s promise to reduce debt pressure on people, proposed by the DP, cannot be fulfilled. He also said that the party wants to add a provision in the constitutional amendments stating that soum mayors are to be elected by local residents.

J.Batzandan affirmed that the DP will demand the Minister of Energy, Minister of Education, Culture, Sciences, and Sports and Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry to report on winter preparation measures on August 9.