Legislative elections were held in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

on 29 June 2016. The governing

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

lost to a landslide victory of the

Mongolian People's Party The Mongolian People's Party (MPP) is a social democratic political party in Mongolia. It was founded as a communist party in 1920 by Mongolian revolutionaries and is the oldest political party in Mongolia. The party played an important role i ...

, retaining only 9 of 76 seats in the

Great Khural The State Great Khural, ; "State Great Assembly" is the unicameral parliament of Mongolia.Montsame News Agency. ''Mongolia''. 2006, Foreign Service office of Montsame News Agency, , p. 40 It is located in the Government Palace. History ;1 ...

. While they just lost under 2% of the popular vote, a new electoral law passed by the Democratic Party itself when in Government to promote

two-party politics A two-party system is a Politics, political party system in which two major party, major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature ...

, together with a 14% rise of the MPP, ended up making them lose 25 of 34 seats. As a result, the MPP secured a

supermajority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

with 65 of 76 seats.

Electoral system

In the 2012 elections the 76 members of the

State Great Khural The State Great Khural, ; "State Great Assembly" is the unicameral parliament of Mongolia.Montsame News Agency. ''Mongolia''. 2006, Foreign Service office of Montsame News Agency, , p. 40 It is located in the Government Palace. History ;1 ...

were elected by two methods; 48 are elected from single-member constituencies and 28 from a nationwide constituency by proportional representation. However, on 5 May 2016 the electoral law was amended to remove the proportional representation seats.Mongolia's new election rules handicap smaller parties, clear way for two-horse race
Reuters, 20 May 2016 The changes were expected to marginalise smaller parties, and also removed the right of 150,000 Mongolians expatriates to vote, as they could not be registered in a specific constituency. The winning candidate had to receive at least 28% of the valid vote to be elected; if not, a by-election would be held. Voter turnout had to be at least 50% in a constituency for the result to be valid.

Campaign

Twelve parties were approved to contest the elections. However, the

Civil Will–Green Party The Civil Will–Green Party ( mn, Иргэний Зориг–Ногоон Нам, ''Irgenii Zorig–Nogoon Nam'') is a green liberal political party in Mongolia. Civil Will Party Civil Will Party was established on March 9, 2000, with Sanjaas� ...

, which won two seats in 2012 and was part of the government coalition, was barred from running due to irregularities in its paperwork. The newly-formed National Labour Party was also prevented from running, with its leader Surenkhuu Borgil planning on standing as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

instead. A total of 498 candidates registered to contest the elections, with the

and

being the only parties to contest all 76 seats.

Results

The 239 votes cast for the MPRP candidate in constituency 11 (Gobi-Altai) and the 595 votes cast for an independent candidate in constituency 58 (Khan-Uul) were annulled.State Great Khural 2016: General election results
General Election Commission of Mongolia

References

{{Mongolian elections Elections in Mongolia

Legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...