Secretary General of Parliament Secretariat Ts.Tsolmon presented Head of Parliament’s State Structure Standing Committee D.Lundeejantsan with the conclusions from the open discussions on constitutional amendments, which took place throughout Mongolia from late July to early September. Ts.Tsolmon underlined that 550 representatives from the Parliament Secretariat, task forces on constitutional amendments and government officials from districts and provinces actively worked together to increase public participation in discussions on constitutional amendments and to increase people’s proposals regarding the amendments, and used various channels such as online and postal submissions to receive public comments and thoughts related to the amendments. He noted that the task force got feedbacks from people who participated in discussions; 143,894 people took part from 21 provinces and 116,527 from Ulaanbaatar’s nine districts, and 63,638 proposals were collected through postal submission and 3,316 proposals through online submission. The Secretary General said, “Unfortunately, some people who submitted comments and thoughts to the task force did not provide some required background information such as permanent address and first name or last name, and the proposals of 272,895 people who provided required information have been put into an online database by Parliamentary Secretariat’s Information Technology Department, which is open for the submitters to make sure that their proposals are included.” Ts.Tsolmon added that 47.3 percent of the 272,895 proposals were given by men, while 52.7 percent were from women. 32.2 percent were from young people between the ages of 18 to 35; 19.8 percent by people between the ages of 36 to 45; 16.1 percent by people between ages of 46 to 55; and the remaining were submitted by older people aged above 55. People voted on the first draft of the amendments to the Constitution, which was debated by the public in open discussions, and 72 percent supported a proposal to ban the increase of expenditures that have been outlined in the draft state budget. Some 70.9 percent voted for the proposal to extend Parliament’s spring or fall sessions’ duration to 75 working days. 78.2 percent of the public who participated in discussions supported the proposal to introduce a merit system in state services to ensure continuation and stability. 75.5 percent accepted the proposal to legislate a strict ban on the mass dismissal of state officials after an election. 71.6 percent voted for the proposal to increase the members of the General Council of Courts to 11 members. 71.4 percent approved of that the proposal that after Parliament approves judges of the Supreme Court proposed by the General Council of Courts, the President shall ratify it, and the President shall appoint judges proposed by the General Council of Courts. With 69.9 percent vote, the public supported the proposal that the Supreme Court judge nominees must be above the age of 40, and judges must be above 30 years of age. 50.7 percent of people voted against the proposal to eliminate the President’s power that instructs Cabinet on issues in the areas of his or her full power. 53.4 percent agreed with the proposal to eliminate the President’s authority to put forward a bill to Parliament. 60.5 percent of voters supported a proposal that one-third of Cabinet members can have a seat in Parliament. 68.1 percent voted to reduce the President’s authority to dissolve Parliament. 59.4 percent voted for a proposal that Cabinet must have five permanent ministries; the Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs; the Ministry of Finance; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of Defense; and the Ministry of Environment, and the Prime Minister is eligible to put forward a proposal to form up to seven new ministries in social, economic and infrastructure sectors depending on the country’s socio-economic state. 53.3 percent agreed that the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar should appoint mayors of districts; mayors of provinces will appoint mayors of soums; district mayors will appoint heads of khoroos; and mayors of soum will appoint heads of bagas. 68.1 percent of voters agreed with the proposal that Parliament will have the right to form a temporary committee to review a public interest issue, and more than a quarter of MPs or a group of a political party or a coalition in Parliament will have the right to propose to create a temporary committee to the Speaker of Parliament. With 64.8 percent support, voters agreed that the Prime Minister must submit his or her decision to appoint or dismiss a Cabinet member to the President and Parliament, and the President is to have the power to ratify or veto the Prime Minister’s decision within 72 hours. 65.9 percent of people voted for the proposal on the local administration hierarchy of Mongolia; specifically, a province will be made up of soums; a soum will be made up of bagas; the capital will consist of districts; and a district will be made up of khoroos.