Creation of the Constitution

On 2 February 1989, the political bureau of the Central Committee of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party established the commission for the amendment of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Mongolia by Resolution No 20 of the Central Committee of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party.

Also, the proposal by the head of the Department on the Structure of State Organisations, B Chimid, was discussed on 20 February 1990. After that, the reso­lution of the Parliament of the Republic of Mongolia dated 23 March 1990 on the structure of the highest state organisation was approved, ‘The results of the public discussion of the draft law on the election of deputies of the Parliament of the Republic of Mongolia and the session of the Parliament of the Republic of Mongolia based on the proposals made by the deputies'.

Based on these needs and requirements of the society, the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and the People's Great Khural recognised the need for a new ‘Law on Political Parties'.

The highest body of representatives of the state power of the Republic of Mongolia is the State Great Khural, the highest permanent legislative body is the State Baga Khural, and the leaders of the State Great Khural have been instructed to revise the relevant chapter of the Constitution of Mongolia to create the position of the President.^[380]

On 10 May 1990, at the 9th session of the 11th election of the State Great Khural, the Law on Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Mongolia was approved. In the first part of the second article of this law, the State Great Khural has the exclusive right to approve and amend the Constitution.^[381]

From the perspective of constitutionalism, the democratic movement that started in 1990 was the most significant development. A peaceful protest and hunger strike by young people in the streets of the capital city Ulaanbaatar overthrew the authoritarian regime. Seventy years of socialism ended without bloodshed. The price of the peaceful transfer was such that the former socialist party, the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, remained in power albeit with a different ideology and agenda.^[382]

In the first free democratic election in 1990, there were 1,027,100 registered adult voters. Of these voters, 98 per cent took part, and 430 of the 2,413 candidates running for the People's Great Khural won by a majority of 5-6 votes per constitu­ency. The Constitution was approved by members of the People's Great Khural. Each member of the Parliament represented an average of 2,400 voters.^[383]

In 1990, the State Baga Khural was established as a permanent legislative body according to the above mentioned law on Amendments to the Constitution. In the period from 1990 to 1992 the State Baga Khural adopted more than 30 constitu­tional and other laws with constitutional provisions such as the Law on President of Mongolia, Law on Ikh Khural, Law on Government, Law on Political Parties, Law on Property Right (Amendments to the Civil Law), Law on Business Entities, Law on Education, etc.^[384]

From the beginning of November 1991 to 13 January 1992, there were 76 days of debates, negotiations, and sometimes heated debates in the People's Great Khural.

The new Constitution that set out the principles of independence and democ­racy for the state and of freedom, and equality for its citizens is tailored to suit the period of social transition and there will be an indispensable need that arises to revise it at a later date.

The Constitution featured a new unicameral Parliament called the State Great Hural, a directly elected President, and a Constitutional Court with the power to strike legislation that was unconstitutional.^[386] The choice of the parliamentary system, which provides for a separation of powers and checks and balances, has provided foundations for democratising and liberalising in Mongolia.^[387] The hybrid system of local governance as defined by the 1992 Constitution, both on verti­cal and horizontal lines, has created both confusion and ambiguity with regard to the relationship between local executive and representatives' bodies and their accountability to their respective higher administrative tiers and with central state bodies and citizens.

The Law on Administrative and Territorial Units and its governance has largely failed to clarify the above matters, and it has not kept pace with the country's recent social, economic and political changes. It is therefore considered advisable to write a new law on local government rather than looking to revise existing legislation.^[388]

It is similar to other post-socialist states that adopted new constitutions in the aftermath of the break-up of the Soviet bloc. To be sure, the stability has been driven by underlying conditions in the society, but it is also the case that had the institutional choices of 1992 been wildly dysfunctional, it might not have lasted.^[389]

A constitution, of course, does not itself deliver social services or collect taxes. The particular choices that are made in any given country cannot be attributed to its constitution. However, a constitution does set up incentives for politicians to provide policies that the public demands. It also provides for a budget process. In Mongolia, the mechanisms of budgeting and service delivery have been the subject of several different approaches in the period under review.^[390]

IV.