The Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), who claimed an overwhelming victory over the Democratic Party in the 2016 parliamentary and Ulaanbaatar Citizen's Representative Khural elections, ran campaigns under the motto “We will serve and develop together”.
The MPP gained the trust of the majority of voters nationwide, promising to save the nation from poverty, to recover from the economic crisis, to rid Mongolia of debt, to save the state from bankruptcy, and to create a wealthy and powerful Mongolia with the policies it says its members plan to adhere to during their time in office.
Members of the MPP say they plan to implement a set of policies in five basic fields over the next four years, including society, economy, the environment and green development, governance, and Ulaanbaatar's development.
The following is a summary of the action plan of the MPP submitted to the General Election Commission.
Social Policy
- The A Mother with a Salary program
As of 2015, around 91,700 mothers were taking care of their children at home, and 36,000 children were being raised without attending daycare. Due to the economic crisis, it has been revealed that the government left 297,000 children, 40 percent of all children, behind in the distribution of monthly welfare allowances for children.
The MPP plans to resolve this issue by distributing monthly welfare to all Mongolian children to implement the A Mother with a Salary program by increasing welfare allowances for mothers who have given birth to three or more children. The MPP plans to improve access to daycare and kindergarten through the Every Child in Kindergarten program.
- Eliminate the three-shift educational system
During the 2014-2015 academic year , some 22 public schools operated in three shifts due to exceeding student capacity and a lack of classrooms. The MPP has indicated in its action plan that it will have all schools running in three shifts switch to two shifts, with a shift in the morning and a shift in the afternoon. It will implement a policy to have no more than 30 students in one class. The MPP will also revise curriculum standards and content, and improve the quality of student books grounded on the country’s history, traditions, heritage, and global development trends.
According to the MPP action plan, over 20 percent of all families in Mongolia are living in poverty or being led by single parents. Divorce rates have increased by 30 percent in 2015 from 2014. In 2015, some 3,522 married couples filed for divorce and domestic violence cases increased.
In order to make happy families in Mongolia, the MPP plans to increase salaries and social welfare in stages, and will adhere to a policy to accommodate young families and families with four or more children. The MPP action plan says that they will aim to decrease the gap between the rich and poor, and will increase the number of people joining Mongolia's wealthy class.
- Eliminating tuition fee issues for students
As of 2014, 162,626 out of 379,100 young people between the ages of 18 to 24 were studying in universities and institutes; 102,200 were employed, whereas 114,147 were not enrolled at a university or employed. Tuition fees have nearly tripled in the last four years.
In order to improve the situation, the MPP plans to create opportunities for students to pay tuition fees through a state-issued loan repayable after graduation. The MPP will also implement the A Student with Income program by rewarding entities that hire students part-time. The MPP action plan says that they will continue distributing the monthly welfare allowance of 70,200 MNT to academically successful students.
They also promise to facilitate fair and transparent selection procedures for undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships for students enrolled at foreign universities, and will double the number of scholarship recipients.
- To take care of the elderly
By 2016, nearly 90 percent of all seniors in Mongolia were in debt for pension loans. Mongolian seniors paid over 70 billion MNT in interest for pension loans in 2015. Around 60 percent of all pensioners receive the minimum pension amount, 15,000 MNT to 230,000 MNT.
The MPP plans to support the elderly over the next four years by increasing their income, decreasing pension loan interest rates, and implementing a state policy on the elderly.
- To increase scientific sector financing
The MPP plans to carry out various actions to improve and develop the health sector by doubling its financing, improve health insurance services, decrease the hepatitis C mortality rate, and develop mobile health diagnosis and examination services in provinces for herders.
Two. Economic Policy
Over the next four years, the MPP plans to recover from the economic crisis; to run the state under monitored monetary policy; to increase the value of publicly held Tavan Tolgoi shares; to develop infrastructure; to form a new budget avoiding high interest loans and cutting out state expenses for luxuries while shifting to a savings mode; to make Mongolia an exporter; to supply residents with healthy, ecologically friendly, domestically grown food; to avoid adding to or creating any taxes; and to decrease interest rates on loans for herders.
Three. Environment and Green Development Policy
The MPP plans to develop eco-friendly green development in Mongolia, and will work to attract 4 million tourists within the next four years.
Four. Governance Policy
The MPP wants to create state that does not discriminate against its citizens over the next four years, and says it will aim to recover justice by saving democracy.
In order to fulfill their promises, the MPP will amend the Constitution with the involvement of citizens; will increase the participation of women at the decision making level of government; implement a transparent tender policy; will take legal measures when state servants mislead the public or implement needless bureaucracy; will recruit staff for state service on principles of merit; will increase the salaries of public servants and keep state services sustainable.
Five. Capital City Development
In the last four years Ulaanbaatar’s expenses have drastically increased, reaching more than 3.2 trillion MNT. Budgetary spending by Ulaanbaatar over the 12 years prior to 2012 was 1.2 trillion MNT. The MPP believes some 12.7 billion MNT was wasted on producing and distributing green trash bags to city residents, and that nearly 8 billion MNT was ineffectively spent on the railbus.
The MPP’s action plans says the party will work to make Ulaanbaatar residents happier, by creating a pleasant living environment with clean air and prompt services. In order to improve Ulaanbaatar, the MPP plans to develop a law to divide and develop Ulaanbaatar in zones, to maintain civic participation in addressing the city's issues by resolving issues upon public consultation.
The MPP plans to implement campaigns to protect the Tuul, Selbe and Dund rivers by building pedestrian walkways and roads along the rivers. Their action plan includes building a garden park, and man-made lakes and water features in all districts. They also plan to carry out management to transport, classify, recycle, and purchase litter in all districts.
The MPP says they will support construction projects for comfortable, affordable houses with access to clean water, sewage, and heating, as well as make houses and land in ger districts available for purchase through mortgage loans. They plan to reduce air pollution by increasing the supply and use of gas fuel in ger districts and the provinces.
In addition, the MPP action plan states that all precinct units (khoroos) in Ulaanbaatar will be equipped with playgrounds and sports and gymnastics fields.
