Parliament approves Law on Regional Election
On Thursday, Parliament approved the Law on Regional Election.
Parliament reviewed the bill previously approved by the Standing Committee on Law, which stated all civil service employees planning to run for this election must relieve their official positions by April 1. Parliament changed this deadline to August 1 for its approval. This change was preceded by a number of arguments from Parliament members.
Head of the Standing Committee on Law Kh.Nyambaatar explained that if a nominee is relieved of his or her position six months before the election, they will face difficult financial circumstances.
MP M.Bilegt questioned the fairness of this situation, stating, “There are 1.2 million people of working age, and 200,000 of them work in civil service. Don’t they have any other income aside from their civil service salary? How do you think 90 percent of all working-age people live? We must separate these two topics. It is the same as saying unless they are working in a government service, they will have absolutely no income. This is wrong. If this is the case, all citizens are eligible for such pay. This is an unfair treatment of our citizens.”
Head of Democratic Party (DP) Council in Parliament MP D.Erdenebat emphasized on the fact that the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) majority is “forcing” an election law that will “decide the fate” of people living in rural areas. He stated it is not right to demand civil servants to vacate their positions, and it is only a matter of choice for the nominee: choose the path of civil service or politics. He then indirectly berated MPP for changing the date of April 1 to August 1, stating, “it is a huge mistake.”
“Anyone who meddled with the Election Law will fall,” he warned MPP members. “It has happened to us before, and it will happen to you.”
He then stated the DP Council, or all members of DP in Parliament, will not be part of the approval process for the Law on Regional Elections. “If you want to force this law, go ahead. You are not allowing the others to be a part of this discussion.”
After a brief discussion on this matter, Parliament finally voted to agree that the date should in fact be changed to August 1, 2020. Shortly afterwards, with a 78.6 percent approval, Parliament voted and approved all amendments to the Law on Regional Elections.
Parliament then approved a host of other laws and regulations directly concerning the Law on Regional Elections, and their amendments were all approved after their first debate.