Government and Politics Mn 1992, after much debate, a radically new constitution was enacted. The new parliament is known as the Great (Ikh) Khural and has a total of 76 seats (down from 430 seats after the constitution was amended). Representatives are elected for four-year terms. The smaller standing legislature, the Little (Baga) Khural, was abolished in 1992. The president serves a four-year term, is elected by direct popular vote and can be re-elected only once. The president must be at least 45 years of age (a rule which would have excluded national hero SUkhbaatar, among others). Local governments are not directly elected. Rather, the voters in every sum elect a number of deputies who meet in the aimag capital to select the governor and local mayors. Ulaan Baatar, Darkhan, Choir (in Gov-Sumber district) and Erdenet are autonomous municipalities: they don't officially belong to any province and have mayors with as much power as aimag governors. For over 65 years, power was monopolised by the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP). The elections of 1990 and 1992 still left the MPRP in control, with a renewed mandate to navigate Mongolia's entry into modernity with a Mongolian face. The MPRP, while promising reform, often looked after its mates, resisted the prescriptions of the international bankers, and took more and more loans to patch up existing unproductive enterprises.
By the time of the June 1996 elections, voters had had enough: they handed the new Democratic Coalition a stunning and unexpected victory. The Coalition - made up of the Mongolian Social Democratic Party, the Mongolian National Democratic Party, the Mongolian Democratic Party of Believers and the Mongolian Parly of Greens - was clearly given a mandate to speed up economic reform. The inexperienced government, full of educated young men (only seven of the 76 seats are held by women), must urgently u-vivc the economy, encourage foreign Investment and preserve independence from the omnipotent neighbours, China and Russia. Unfortunately, the new government II only 50 of the 76 seats in the Ikh Khural, * huh is marginally less than the two-thirds,. 111' 111V required by the constitution to pass Ml) new legislation. The one independent member, from the Traditional United Party, Il expected to side with the opposition party the MPRP.
One of the first decisions made by the new government was to reduce the number of ministries from 13 to nine: External Reta¬in ms (foreign affairs), Agriculture & Indus-it v. Development of Infrastructure (which Includes the latent tourism department), education, Finance, Justice, Nature & Environment (which shows how important this is lo (he current government) and Health and Social Welfare.
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