Mongolia

Monthly Event Reports GSOD Indices

Mongolia is an overall weak democracy, performing in the low range in Absence of Corruption and Local Democracy and exhibiting mid-range performance across most other GSoD measures. Over the last five years, it saw significant declines in Freedom of Association, Freedom of Movement, and Media Integrity. Impartial Administration has slowly but steadily declined since the early 1990s, reflecting the challenges of democratization and a rapid influx of mining wealth. This landlocked, lower-middle income nation, situated between Russia and China, is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, and the post-2001 mining boom has radically reorganized its society and economy, which had historically been reliant on agriculture and livestock. The ten-fold increase in GDP per capita since 2000, brought by the discovery and exploitation of massive mineral deposits, has also caused environmental issues and a historic mass migration of the population to the capital, Ulaanbaatar, which has nearly tripled in population since 1998. The fall of the Soviet Union spurred Mongolia’s transition to a multi-party democracy and market system in 1990, culminating in the adoption of a new constitution in 1992.

Pastoralism forms an intrinsic part of the nation’s identity, and as recently as 2000 half of the country’s workforce were nomadic herders (as of 2019, it is about one quarter). 72 per cent of the country is publicly-owned pasture land, and questions of land use, ownership, possession, and conservation have long been key sites of political contestation. These conflicts were exacerbated by the mining boom, which pits traditional pastoralism against the economic benefits of intrusive mining projects and has also seen nomadic herders take up small-scale artisanal mining to preserve a non-sedentary way of life. The wealth of the boom remains unevenly distributed, with the state continuing to work to both balance conflicting rural economic priorities and combat pervasive poverty among the hundreds of thousands of new residents of the capital.

The mining sector has been marred by corruption from the time mineral deposits were discovered, with more recent public protests around corruption allegations in the coal industry. These issues are set in the broader context of increasing lack of public trust in government – the younger generation is increasingly frustrated by economic inequalities and the lack of economic opportunity, culminating in mass youth-led protests in April 2022. Mongolia has also experienced relative political instability, an issue various parties have sought to address through constitutional amendments changing vote allocations, the number of parliamentarians in the Cabinet, and the balance of power between the president and the prime minister, notably in 2019 and most recently in 2022.

While female unemployment rates have been low in comparison to the male unemployment rates, women at work still face sexual harassment and pay inequity at disproportionate rates in Mongolia. A United Nations survey from 2017 found “extremely high rates of intimate partner and non-partner violence against women” across the country. Women’s political participation has increased in recent elections, but at 17 per cent, women’s representation in parliament remains slightly below regional and global averages.

In the next several years, it will be important to watch Representative Government and the ways in which the government addresses public demands for more diverse representation. It will also be important to watch the country’s relations with China, which has been the nation’s largest source of investment and trade in the last two decades. The performance with regard to Absence of Corruption will also be impacted by recent efforts to increase transparency in the mining sector and other legal and policy commitments in 2023 to combat corruption.

July 2023 | Parliament amends electoral law to increase gender quota

In line with Mongolia's recent constitutional reform to overhaul its electoral system, parliament has moved to amend the Law on Elections to set a minimum quota for women among party candidates to 30 per cent (previously 20 per cent), with the stated aim of increasing it to 40 per cent in the 2028 election. The changes will be enacted from 1 January 2024, and are considered part of Mongolia's ongoing reforms to address long-standing gender-parity issues in political decision-making processes.

Women's Political Participation Constitution

May 2023 | Parliament amends constitution to increase transparency and representation

The Mongolian Parliament on 31 May passed a constitutional reform to enlarge parliament from 76 to 126 members. Rather than a strictly first-past-the-post system, the reform introduces a mixed electoral system that will come into effect from 1 January 2024, wherein 78 members will be elected under the old system and the remaining 48 members by proportional representation via a political party list. The parliament sought out citizens' opinions in drafting the new amendments. The change aims to address the disproportionate representation of constituencies by "strengthening the legislature, increasing transparency, and bringing parliamentarians closer to the people they serve." However, some experts argue that more focus should be placed on strengthening political parties and increasing female representation - the latter of which the government will soon introduce in a separate proposal.

Constitution Legislature

December 2022 | Anti-corruption protests erupt

News that unnamed state officials had embezzled $12.8 billion in state coal revenue triggered mass protests in Ulaanbaatar on 4 December. The protests, which included a 5 December attempt to storm the Government Palace, reflect years of growing inequality and elite impunity during the country’s decade-long mining boom. The government has responded by declassifying documents relating to state-owned coal companies’ operations, but has so far resisted protester demands to release the names of the implicated officials.

Protests