On June 2, a working group established by the speaker Parliament’s Decree No. 33 of May 10, 2021 convened to review the implementation of relevant laws and regulations approved by Parliament in connection with the political situation.
The split Democratic Party (DP) groups nominated former Chairman of the party S.Erdene and lawmaker N.Altankhuyag for the 2021 presidential election.
However, the General Election Commission registered S.Erdene from DP, refusing to register N.Altankhuyag citing the law, which states parties with seats in Parliament may nominated only one candidate for the presidential election.
The working group requested the General Authority for State Registration (GASR), the Supreme Court, the (GEC) and the Independent Authority Against Corruption to provide written explanations and information on the dispute by the June 20.
Accordingly, the above organizations submitted information in writing, and additional clarifications and explanations of officials of some relevant organizations were heard at the working group meeting. Particularly, Head of the GASR D.Delgersaikhan, senior state inspector J.Chiimaa, inspector D.Chintulga and Head of the Legal Department of the GEC D.Bat-Erdene participated in the working group meeting, and gave explanations and information.
During the meeting, lawmaker N.Ganibal asked the GEC to explain the legal grounds for refusing to register N.Altankhuyag as a candidate for the presidential election.
D.Bat-Erdene said, “The GEC receives only one candidate from each party and decides whether to register a candidate based on a reference from the authorities. The materials of both candidates were reviewed. In accordance with the Law on Presidential Election, a central representative body of a political party discusses at its meeting and selects a candidate. Therefore, the decision was based on inquiries from the party’s central representative office, or the National Policy Committee of DP.”
Head of the working group Ts.Munkh-Orgil clarified which organizations’ inquiries were used to receive the candidates’ materials.
Noting that the Supreme Court made four decisions related to DP, Lawmaker Ts.Tuvaan clarified how the meeting of the party’s central representative office was held and how the attendance issue was monitored.
Head of the Legal Department of the GEC D.Bat-Erdene emphasized that the commission does not have the right to participate in and review the decisions of the party’s National Policy Committee, as it is an internal matter of a political party.
Legislator Ts.Munkhtsetseg said that the Law on State Registration of Legal Entities, Law on Elections, and Law on Political Parties need to be reviewed.
After each member submitted their conclusions, the members of the working group agreed to develop a joint conclusion of the working group.
