The President’s Address to the Nation on Protecting Mongolia’s Democracy
On April 22nd, President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga delivered an address to the nation.
Mongolians, dear citizens,
As the President and head of state of Mongolia, the symbol of the people’s unity, the head of the National Security Council and the Commander-in-Chief of the Mongolian Armed Forces, I have responsibly delivered the statement expressing that the ruling Mongolian People’s Party has provided the conditions of its disruption on the motives that the party is violating the constitutional requirement that “the ruling party shall maintain the security of the government and rule of law”, changed the state-oriented system into a one-party dominance system, subverting the government bodies that are required to abide by the law and to operate in an independent manner, for they are united under the responsibility to protect the national fundamental interests, and by turning the public service into a structure that illegally and obediently fulfills the tasks assigned by the leaders of the Mongolian People’s Party, taking illegal actions that are against the will of its ordinary members and supporters, weaken the country’s sovereignty and independence, and attempting to take power by unconstitutional means and possible militarization of the party’s structure.
The illicit oppression of the Mongolian People’s Party facilitates concernable grounds for derailing the responsibilities of public offices and government organizations, possibly into complete loss of their independent operations, and turning them into a mechanism for fraudulent election campaigns, ballot interference and vote rigging through its militarized bodies. All of these actions are banned for any political party.
Therefore, the Presidential ordinance stating the conjuncture of conditions to disband the Mongolian People’s Party with reference to Sections 1 and 2 of Article 3, Paragraph 10 of Article 16, Section 1 of Article 19, Section 1 of Article 30, Section 2 of Article 32, Paragraph 10, Section 1 of Article 33, Section 2 of Article 33, and Section 1 of Article 70 of the Constitution, Section 4.2 of Article 4 of the Law on Political Parties, Articles 3,4 and 6, and Section 8 of Article 8 of the Law on National Security, Section 3.3 titled “Internal Security” of the National Security Concept, which stipulates that “the foundation of internal security shall rest on ensuring human rights and freedoms, adherence to the Constitution, respect for the rule of law, continuity of the Mongolian state governance and national unity, support for political parties, civil society, free press and media, individual liberties as well as safeguarding public order and social stability,” and Paragraphs 3.3.1, 3.3.1.1, 3.3.1.3, 3.3.1.6, 3.3.3.3, 3.3.3.4, 3.3.4.4 of the National Security Concept, has been forwarded, in accordance with Section 23.2, Article 23 of the Law on Political Parties, to the State Supreme Court.
This decision is completely unrelated to the trivial actions by the Mongolian People’s Party in an attempt to deprive me of my rights of candidacy and participation in the presidential election. I hereby underline that these petty actions cannot hinder my current and future commitments to the flourishing of my country, Mongolia. The matters of candidacy and re-election are microscopic in comparison with the matters concerning the nation’s common interests.
During my service, I have never forgotten my oath as the head of state, and have been loyally fulfilling my duties as I view my Presidency as a honorable opportunity to work for the benefit of my nation, the state, for building a fair and just society under rule of law, and for the prosperity of our country. I am committed, as I swore with my hand on the Constitution of Mongolia, to strengthening the independence and national security, overcoming challenges facing the country’s growth, eliminating any threat and danger, building capable and professional governance, and strengthening the democracy, as well as maintaining healthy competitive economy and ensuring fair distribution of natural resources. I promise I will not stop.
Dear citizens,
In consequence of the tendency to misinterpret the concepts and fundamental principles of the Constitution and to distort them using followup bills, the people’s right to governance has been overlooked by unfair distribution of benefits from natural resources, the political parties which are the social institutions responsible for fulfilling the right of assembly and association have turned into criminal groups that buy, and even steal, the citizens’ votes in order to get ahead. Even the exploitation of their public offices in their own favor has become something tolerable, as a result. The deterioration has come to such a degrading level.
Prioritizing the purpose of correcting these distortions, I had chaired the working group of consultations on the draft amendments to the Constitution of Mongolia, and
- contributed to consolidation of the legal framework for fairer and direct distribution of mineral resources; and
- helped strengthen the legal framework to assemble the General Judicial Council with 10 members in an inclusive manner, while avoiding to remain influential over the government by being able to appoint the head of the anti-graft agency and threatening wrongful politicians for their indecencies, a mistake repeatedly made by the previous Presidents, and re-opening the door to judicial renovation. Moreover, I even denounced some of the full rights of the President of Mongolia, in order to fulfill the broader mission to bring major change to the people’s lives. Thus, the amendments were approved and reached tangible outcomes.
Unfortunately, the Mongolian People’s party, the ruling power, is choosing to continue to legislate in accordance with instructions provided by the party chair, instead of substantiating and perfecting the said constitutional amendments with more viable bills. This action denies the members of parliament of their full rights to be the emissary of the people, and to maintain and prioritize the interests of the citizens.
Furthermore, the party attempted at taking the jurisdiction under its control by influencing appointment and dismissal of members of the Constitutional Court, whose main responsibility is protecting the Constitution, in addition to giving them tasks and requiring the court to execute the given tasks, not considering that their actions are weakening the independence of the Court. They are doing it explicitly and shamelessly.
The Mongolian People’s Party has been conducting immoral and illegal actions towards tarnishing the self-administration of localities, and made attempts to take over the authority of appointing the head of the anti-graft agency. It has become known to the public that the party is openly discriminating against the people who do not support or do not have membership to their party when providing public services, and granting government scholarships and education aid. I once again announce that these are the rationale for disbanding the Mongolian People’s Party.
Ordinary members and supporters of the Mongolian People’s Party,
I deeply respect and support your fundamental rights and freedom to assembly and association, and your dedication to serving your home country. Unfortunately a number of people who attained power after winning your trust and faith are making attempts to break the constitutional system and establish a one-party dominant system by way of abusing the trust given by you and exploiting the state power as power of a political party with serious violations of law, leaving me no choice but to intercept. This is the responsibility I was entrusted with by law from the people of Mongolia.
The time has come for you, the ordinary members of the Mongolian People’s Party, to join your efforts to bring uninterrupted growth to the country and safeguard the constitutional legitimacy as well as to reorganize and rebuild a modern political party that is committed to its core values and principles and guarantees full participation of its membership.
It is a historic responsibility and duty bestowed upon the ordinary members of the Mongolian People’s Party who are in their right mind. I call for you to stay assured that you are creators of history, to set the country on the right path to achieve development and mend the flaws in democracy.
I earnestly ask you to get rid of the networks of sole and unceasing dominance of a handful of immoral leaders, known as “devil’s circle” and “spider’s web”, by dissolving the Mongolian People’s Party and to exert yourself for your state, motherland, children and future generations. You have ample opportunities and future possibilities unlocked in front of you to rebuild a new, fair and democratic party committed to the interests of its members and the people.
Please reflect upon it well and spare no effort.
Esteemed Chairman and members of the State Great Khural of Mongolia, who are exercising state power on behalf of the people,
Prime Minister and cabinet members of Mongolia,
Chair and members of the Constitutional Court of Mongolia,
Chief Justice and justices of the Supreme Court of Mongolia,
All public servants of Mongolia,
As the head of state of Mongolia, I seek to release you all, who are doing their utmost for the state of Mongolia, from the dictatorship of the heads of the Mongolian People’s Party, who are presiding above the law and above the state.
I seek to enable the total ability to respect and uphold the Constitution and to obey the law only.
I seek to open the door for you to actions to fulfill your duties of securing and protecting the genuine national interests of Mongolia before the entire population with dignity.
I am calling for you to exercise your rights and freedom to fight against unlawful pressure from the ruling political party, refuse to carry out illegal orders and tasks, have protection under the law, and function in compliance with the law.
The law will protect you from threats, control and pressure from a party. Put the interest of the Mongolian people who vested their trust in you over the interests of the Mongolian People’s Party.
Strive for and remember your right to remain with confidence and dignity before the young and future generations and abide by your duty and oath to serve the people.
Esteemed rulers, and those in power of the Mongolian People’s Party,
I, as the President and head of state of Mongolia, the symbol of the people’s unity, the head of the National Security Council and the Commander-in-Chief of the Mongolian Armed Forces, and under my duties before my people, once again affirm the conjuncture of conditions to disband the Mongolian People’s Party.
I once again remind You that Section 23.2, Article 23 of the Law on Political Parties provides specific conditions where a political party should be disbanded by the State Supreme Court.
Several requests have previously been submitted by individuals and political parties to the State Supreme Court on disbanding the Mongolian People’s Party on the motive that the past and current actions of the party had been violating the constitutional requirement to maintain government security and rule of law. The previous requests have been rejected due to so-called “lack of evidence”.
Who has the capacity to prove the party’s illegal and immoral actions that violate both the Constitution and the Law on Political Parties, today?
Who will protect the people, the Constitution?
Who will ensure stability and control over authority?
As a civil servant, mandated and trusted by the people to ensure national security of Mongolia, I view this as the historic and sacred mission and inevitable responsibility that fall upon me. I have taken an oath to serve my people. Disbanding the Mongolian People’s Party is the manifestation of my dedication to rule of law and fulfillment of my oath.
Dear citizens,
I have not forgotten the mission I have received to strengthen democracy and ensure justice.
If the civil service has not come under the complete oppression of the Mongolian People’s Party, the law enforcement, intelligence agencies and other special services should prosecute and uncover these illegal actions, as they serve the fundamental interest of the nation. It is only right to mention that, in recent years, some undisguisable wrongdoings committed by the party had been uncovered, yet left unresolved and unpunished.
In this light, I, as the head of state and the President mandated and trusted by the people, avail the State Supreme Court of this opportunity to exercise its lawful duties by announcing the conjuncture of conditions to disband the Mongolian People’s Party.
The authority to register, unregister and/or disband political parties, a matter of state registration process, belongs with the State Supreme Court. I am confident in the ability of the Supreme Court to responsibly accept and resolve these facts and evidence, collected in the scope of my activities as the head of state, in the manner and timeframe provided by law. .
I would like to strictly remind everyone that the Supreme Court’s judicial deliberation process is a subject of interference by none other.
Dear citizens,
Today, there are no apparent threats to or denial against Mongolia’s independence and sovereignty in the world.
Instead, the internal shortcomings such as bamboozling of natural resources, which are the property of the people by law, committed by criminalized groups conspired by their connections with the political parties in favor of their own personal interests, white-collar crimes, bamboozling of taxpayers’ money, stealing ordinary citizens’ opportunities, hiding their assets in offshore accounts, are the main cause of deterioration of the country and the system, as a whole.
I call upon all of you to start expediting the democratic growth that cherishes human rights and freedom, while strengthening the rule of law, reaffirming the multi-party system by disbanding the Mongolian People’s Party.
The Mongolian People’s Party is to blame for the intense political, economic and intellectual crisis that Mongolia is suffering from today.
In the 29 years since the adoption of the democratic Constitution, the Mongolian People’s Party possessed the ruling power for 21 years. The outcomes of those years, you see in your living standards and your health. The Mongolian People’s Party has no right to share these wrongdoings or blame them on others.
According to the Law on the Political Parties, there 8 reasons to disband a party. I will enumerate each one of them:
- In case the party has undertook activities that would violate the sovereignty and independence of Mongolia;
- In case the party has undertook activities that would break up the national integrity;
- In case the party has undertook activities that would unconstitutionally usurp the state authority;
- In case the party has transitioned to violent approaches or undertook violent actions;
- In case the party has undertook activities to discriminate by ethnicity, nationality, or race;
- In case the party has undertook activities against the independence, territorial integrity of other countries and transitioned to a form of religious party;
- In case the party has transitioned to a form of militarized party;
- In case the party has transitioned to a form of fascist party.
If the political party has undertaken activities that pertain to any one of these conditions, and if those activities have been corroborated by evidence, the political party should be disbanded. the Mongolian People’s Party directly and indirectly qualifies many of these conditions, and it became fully certain that the Mongolian People’s Party has undertaken and is undertaking alarming activities. Specifically:
- Violating the independence of the Constitutional Court of Mongolia and forcing a decision by the Constitutional Court that violates the Constitution of Mongolia is an act that would forcefully intrude on Mongolia’s sovereignty and independence and unconstitutionally usurp state authority. We shall not forget that a nation’s independence, citizens’ rights and freedom is only protected by the Constitution.
- The National Security Council of Mongolia has lost its ability to convene without the approval of the Chairman of the Mongolian People’s Party. The National Security Council meetings have been repeatedly called on to discuss and monitor the pandemic situation, but we have reached the level of not even being able to reach a quorum. Following the decision of the Mongolian People’s Party, the Cabinet of Mongolia has resigned on January 21, 2021 without any specific reason. Upon the decision and order of the the Mongolian People’s Party Governing Committee, the General Authority for State Registration, a government implementing agency, making an unjust decision to split the Democratic Party is an action that violates the national unity by undermining the opposition party that has been elected by the people of Mongolia in whom the state power is vested.
- The fact that the “Mongolian Military Union,” which is headed by the Mongolian People’s Party’s chairman U.Khurelsukh, has been founded parallel to the the Mongolian People’s Party organizing structure, and has arranged for the organization to have a branch at each Military Staff of local administrations, fully proves that the the Mongolian People’s Party is undertaking militarized activities. An additional proof that the “Mongolian Military Union” only supports the activities of the Mongolian People’s Party and provides its militarized structure by becoming its inseparable part is that in the provinces where the Democratic Party has won, no governor has been invited to join this organization. There is now a risk of the Mongolian People’s Party undertaking political and military activities through this structure.
- The leadership of the Mongolian People’s Party has been proven and sentenced by the court for their crime of implementing a 60 billion tugrik scheme that offered public service positions for a price and financing their election costs.
- We, Mongolians, should not forget the act of killing of our compatriots, in consequence of the Mongolian People’s Party’s repeated tinkering of our parliamentary election results, on July 1, 2008 by the order of the the leadership of the Mongolian People’s Party, in particular the Minister of Justice, who was in charge of handling the state of emergency.
- Funds earmarked for the development of small and medium enterprises have been allocated as “payments” for ousting the Cabinet of Mongolia and replacing the chairman of the Mongolian People’s Party. Numerous members of the Mongolian People’s Party have been proven and sentenced by court for illegal misappropriation of the SME funds. It has become an open secret that without the Mongolian People’s Party affiliation, ordinary citizens have been barred from winning tenders and taking loans and support from funds that are financed from the state budget.
- An indication of what kind of regime the Mongolian People’s Party is trying to establish and what kind of discipline the Mongolian People’s Party employs to operate has become obvious from the way they are risking Mongolian people’s lives and health by exploiting the pandemic for their frivolous political aims and election ambition. Despite repeated warning, the ruling the Mongolian People’s Party purposefully has not earmarked any funds for vaccine procurement, and misappropriated, squandered, and how not reported back on many millions of dollars that have been donated from donor countries and international organizations for fighting the pandemic. The current worsening pandemic situation proves that my words are true.
- I will openly present the evidence of the Mongolian People’s Party’s actions to the Mongolian people, and deliver them to the Supreme Court.
Mongolians shall not place a political party on top of our eternal statehood. To prevent this, time has come for us to unite and consolidate, and protect the Mongolian statehood. We need each of your efforts to free Mongolian statehood from the oppression of one political party.
May our statehood not perish under the blessing of the Eternal Sky!
May Mongolia and the Mongolian nation forever endure, and the Mongolian democracy, eternally prevail.
Thank you for your attention.