President accepts number of parliamentarians to be 126

The President approved the recent changes made to the Constitution. Speaker of State G.Zandanshatar personally delivered and presented the amendments to the Constitution to President U.Khurelsukh, which was previously approved by the parliament in accordance with the procedure stipulated in Article 18, Section 11 of the Law on Amendments to the Constitution of Mongolia.

Previously last week, parliament approved of the amendment to the Constitution with 98.5 percent vote to increase the number of members of Parliament from 76 to 126. As the amendments to the Constitution will be effective from January 1, 2024, the forthcoming parliamentary elections will be held under a mixed electoral system of majoritarian and proportional. In specific, 78 members will be directly elected by voters in constituencies, while 48 members by proportional system or from a political party list.

Most citizens were not happy about the new change and expressed their critics on social media and wanted the president to veto the law in accordance with Article 12.8 of the Law on President as he could disapprove laws and other decisions approved by Parliament in whole or in part under Article 33.1 of the Constitution. Citizens online are saying, “We have no power to change the 126-parliament-member law, so we must all be smart about who we give our votes to and change this country”, “We should make them commit to their promises said during campaign”. On the other hand, there are some saying, “More members can result in more representation and can lead to real change”, “The systematic change can allow more development in urban areas”.