2016 Mongolian parliamentary election

2016 Mongolian parliamentary election

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All 76 seats in the State Great Khural 39 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	73.58% ( 6.3pp)
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– MPP Miyeegombyn Enkhbold 45.12 65 +40 Democratic Zandaakhüügiin Enkhbold 33.14 9 −22 MPRP Nambaryn Enkhbayar 8.00 1 New Independents – 6.00 1 −2 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by constituency Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Chimediin Saikhanbileg Democratic Jargaltulgyn Erdenebat MPP

Parliamentary elections were held in Mongolia on 29 June 2016. ^[1] The governing Democratic Party (DP) lost to a landslide victory of the Mongolian People's Party (MPP), retaining only nine of 76 seats in the State Great Khural. ^[2]

Although the DP's vote share was down by just two percentage points, a new electoral law promoting two-party system was passed by the party while in government, ^[3] which allowed MPP vote share to rise by around 14 percentage points. The DP lost 22 out of their previous 31 seats in the State Great Khural. As a result, the MPP secured a supermajority with 65 of 76 seats.

Electoral system

In the 2012 elections, the 76 members of the State Great Khural were elected by a parallel system; 48 were elected from single-member constituencies and 28 from a nationwide constituency by proportional representation. However, on 5 May 2016 the electoral law was amended to remove the proportional representation seats. ^[3] The changes were expected to marginalise smaller parties, and also removed the right of 150,000 Mongolian expatriates to vote, as they could not be registered in a specific constituency. ^[3]

All 76 seats of the State Great Khural were to be elected from 76 single-member constituencies. The winning candidate had to receive at least 28% of the valid vote to be elected; if not, a by-election would be held. Voter turnout had to be at least 50% in a constituency for the result to be valid. ^[4]

Campaign

Pre-election composition

Party		Seats
	Democratic Party	38
	Mongolian People's Party	30
	Justice Coalition	4
	Sovereignty and Unity	2
	Civil Will–Green Party	1
	Independent	1
Total		76
Source: State Great Khural

Twelve parties were approved by the General Election Commission to contest the elections. However, the Civil Will–Green Party, which won two seats in 2012 and was part of the government coalition, was barred from running due to irregularities in its paperwork. ^[3] The newly formed National Labour Party was also prevented from running, with its leader Surenkhuu Borgil standing as an independent instead. ^[3] The Mongolian National Democratic Party, which was part of the Justice Coalition with the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) and part of the government coalition, did not contest the election and instead formally supported the DP. ^[5]

A total of 498 candidates registered to contest the elections, with the Democratic Party and Mongolian People's Party being the only parties to contest all 76 seats. ^[6]

Opinion polls

Opinion polls conducted by the Sant Maral Foundation and MEC Barometer suggested that around half of Mongolian voters were undecided on who to vote for in the 2016 election. ^[7] The MPP was expected to win a small plurality over the DP, whilst the MPRP was predicted to come third. A survey, conducted by the Sant Maral Foundation in March 2016, revealed that it was likely for the National Labour Party to win a seat with around 5% polling in Ulaanbaatar and 3.4% nationwide. ^[8]

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	MPP	DP	MPRP	CWGP	MNDP	NLP	Other	Ind.	NA	Und./ DK
Sant Maral	27 Mar – 12 Apr 2015	1,200	21.6	18.3	10.5	2.4	0.9	–	1.8	–	13.4	31.1
MEC	7–11 Mar 2015	1,002	18.0	19.0	7.0	–	–	3.0	–	–	–	53.0
Sant Maral	11–31 Mar 2016	1,500	20.9	17.3	10.5	1.4	0.4	3.4	10.7	0.4	12.5	32.8
2016 election	29 Jun 2016	–	45.1	33.1	8.0	0.5	–	–	7.3	6.0	–	–

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Mongolian People's Party	636,138	45.12	65	+39
	Democratic Party	467,191	33.14	9	–22
	Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party	112,850	8.00	1	–
	Sovereignty and Unity	35,394	2.51	0	New
	Republican Party	23,118	1.64	0	0
	Civil Movement Party	12,264	0.87	0	0
	United Patriots Party	11,826	0.84	0	0
	Civil Will–Green Party	6,568	0.47	0	–2
	Mongolian Social Democratic Party	5,308	0.38	0	0
	Love the People Party	4,229	0.30	0	New
	Mongolian Traditional United Party	3,283	0.23	0	0
	King Choice (All Mongolians Labour Party–Mongolian Liberal Party)	2,794	0.20	0	0
	Mongolian Conservative Party	2,055	0.15	0	New
	Freedom Implementing Party	1,804	0.13	0	0
	Democratic Movement	432	0.03	0	New
	Independents	84,609	6.00	1	–2
Total		1,409,863	100.00	76	0
Valid votes		1,409,863	99.23
Invalid/blank votes		10,942	0.77
Total votes		1,420,805	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,911,047	74.35
Source: Reuters, General Election Commission of Mongolia

The 239 votes cast for the MPRP candidate in constituency 11 (Gobi-Altai) and the 595 votes cast for an independent candidate in constituency 58 (Khan-Uul) were annulled. ^[9]

References

1. Government and politics Embassy of Mongolia to the United States of America
2. "Mongolian opposition wins landslide, voters fed up with hard times". Reuters. 30 June 2016. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
3. Mongolia's new election rules handicap smaller parties, clear way for two-horse race Reuters, 20 May 2016
4. Electoral system IPU
5. "УИХ-ын 2016 оны сонгуульд оролцох хүсэлтээ 13 нам, 3 эвсэл ирүүллээ". www.gec.gov.mn (in Mongolian). 2016-04-30. Retrieved 2025-07-23.
6. GEC presented the credentials to 498 candidates for the State Great Hural election 2016 Central Elections Committee
7. "Тандалт судалгаа: 2016 оны сонгуулиар сонгогчид аль намыг дэмжих вэ?". trends.mn (in Mongolian). MEC LLC. 2016-03-23. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
8. Dierkes, Julian (2016-04-10). "Politbarometer April 2016". Mongolia Focus. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
9. State Great Khural 2016: General election results General Election Commission of Mongolia