My latest piece with PhD Fernando Casal Bertoa at The Diplomat
Presidential elections will take place in Mongolia for the eighth time since the democratic revolution in 1990 on June 9th. In the weeks leading to these elections political stakes have been higher than ever, Political polarization has been coupled with court rulings, presidential decrees, party splits and also mergers. As explained in this article, all this has put Mongolia’s rather institutionalized party system in an unprecedented state of instability which, if not checked, might lead to the unexpected collapse of democracy in the country. As Mongolians know well, the current form of government was not even a must.
Historically, Mongolia never had a President until the figure was introduced in the aftermath of the 1990 revolution. Still, Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat, former Chairman of the Presidium of the People’s Great Khural (as the Communist parliament was named) and first Mongolian President was appointed by parliament. It was only two years later that the new Constitution, after long and hard discussions, decided to have the Head of State popularly elected. This way Ochirbat was re- elected President with 60 percent of the votes on June 6th, 1993. We revisit here not only the problems popular presidential elections have posed for Mongolian politics in the past but also the reasons why the current situation is not surprising.
Ever since the American-based Spanish scholar Juan Linz published his seminal The Perils of Presidentialism (1990), academics have showcased the problems popular presidential elections might entail. In a recent policy paper published by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, another Spanish scholar – although this time British-based – warns about the perils popular presidential elections entail. There he shows that, among other issues, popular presidential elections might lead to party de-institutionalization, party system fragmentation, and polarization.
Read the full article from here
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