2019 Mongolian constitutional crisis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- 2018 major corruption scandal and subsequent popular protests
- Anti-corruption initiatives by Battulga and Khurelsukh
- Constitutional amendments, strengthening the powers of the Prime Minister, were passed
- Presidential term shortened to a single 6-year term
| 2019 Mongolian constitutional crisis | |||
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| Part of aftermath of the 2018–2019 Mongolian protests | |||
.jpg)  Khaltmaagiin Battulga (left), Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh (right) | |||
| Date | 27 March 2019 – 14 November 2019 (33 weeks and 1 day) | ||
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The 2019 Mongolian constitutional crisis refers to legislation that has been criticized as threatening Mongolia's democracy by undermining its constitutional separation of powers. Though there is no consensus on the exact date the crisis began, many point to 27 March 2019, when the State Great Khural adopted an unprecedented law empowering the National Security Council of Mongolia, a non-constitutional body to the President of Mongolia, to recommend the dismissal of judges, prosecutors, and the head of the Anti-Corruption agency.
The Mongolian People's Party (MPP) won the 2016 parliamentary elections with a supermajority, claiming 65 of the 76 total seats. Effectively securing both the office of the Prime Minister of Mongolia, and the Chairman of the State Great Khural. The next year, in the 2017 presidential election, Khaltmaagiin Battulga, running from the opposition Democratic Party (DP), won the second round with around 55% of the vote. In mid-2018, Speaker Miyeegombyn Enkhbold was found to be heading a group of high-ranking politicians conspiring to raise 60 billion MNT (approximately US$23 million) by selling off government positions. This major scandal would kickstart a series of popular anti-corruption and anti-government protests calling for the resignation of various government officials in October 2018.[1]
In November 2018, Prime Minister Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh survived a vote of no confidence in the wake of another 2018 scandal involving the fraudulent allocation of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund.[2][3] Speaker Enkhbold, a law proposed by President Battulga, and Khürelsükh's supporters in Parliament, and was replaced with MPP MP Gombojavyn Zandanshatar.[4] Khürelsükh promised to dissolve the cabalistic MANAN (a play on words between the Mongolian word for fog манан, and the combined acronyms used by the two political parties involved: the MPP and the DP) as part of a larger initiative to address corruption and restore justice. Khürelsükh received widespread public support for this on social media and from the general public. At this point, the judiciary was widely seen as the only remaining branch of government that posed a threat to Khürelsükh and President Battulga. Prosecutor General M.Enkh-Amgalan was a vocal critic of parliamentarians involved with the SME loan scandal.