Workshops and open discussions on constitutional amendments took place in Bayankhongor and Khentii provinces on July 31 and August 1. The workshop organizers explained about the proposed amendments to the Constitution drafted by a parliamentary task force. To strengthen parliamentary capacity, increase effectiveness of parliamentary control and to improve the quality of law-making, Section 27.2 stating that regular meetings of Parliament’s spring or fall sessions shall convene for no less than 50 working days has been increased to 75 days in the proposed draft. The organizers noted that under the proposed amendments, a new section giving Parliament the authority to create a temporary committee for reviewing a public interest issue is outlined to allow Parliament to exercise executive power. G.Battur, a resident of Bayankhongor soum, said that to ensure the balance of power between Parliament and Cabinet, the Prime Minister should be able to hold office as a Member of Parliament, but other Cabinet members should not be able to hold office as a Member of Parliament. He added that the government needs to carry out a complex regional development policy by uniting four or five soums. Kh.Bayarmagnai from Shargaljuut soum of Bayankhongor Province noted that the proposed amendment outlines that a soum is made up of bagas and villages, but in fact, the reality is that villages are bigger than bagas. He asked the drafters to consider making villages a subdivision of a city, not of a soum. 390 Bayankhongor Province residents participated in the open discussion and 318 took part in a survey on the constitutional amendments. A workshop on constitutional amendments was held in Chinggis city, the capital of Khentii Province, on August 1. Secretaries of local citizen's representative councils and heads of government offices of soums, heads of bagas and officials who drafted the constitutional amendments participated in the workshop. Officials will be moderating discussions in soums and bagas through August. After the workshop, an open discussion took place among the province residents. During the discussion, Member of Parliament D.Gantulga, who was elected from Khentii, highlighted that the Constitution should be amended to carry out socio-economic reform. He said that if Mongolia keeps the current Constitution, Parliament and Cabinet will be unable to execute sustainable policies due to party politics, mass dismissal of state officials and the imbalance of power between the President and Parliament. D.Gantulga urged Khentii residents to actively participate in open discussions set to take place in soums and bagas.