According to the National Audit Office, a total of 670 people, including 15 parties, four coalitions, and 208 self-nominees, have applied to run in the eighth parliamentary elections in a month. Since the last election, eight new parties have been registered, bringing the number of political parties to 36. If only one (singer S. Javkhlan) of the 69 independent candidates was elected in the 2016 election, how many of the independents will be elected when there are three times as many independent candidates this time?
The Mongolian society needs to understand why the number of parties and independent candidates along with their campaign costs are increasing, and how it will impact the future of our nation. The main reason for the growing number of political parties and independent candidates is that the two largest parties, which have been holding power in succession and coalition, have not been able to establish themselves as an institution. Since the ideology of the MPP and DP could not be established, they became indistinguishable apart from the events which occurred during their governance. There are three factors that cause the lack of institutionalization of political parties:
- Electoral System
- Party Leadership
- Public Distrust of Parties
Electoral System
The most important manifestation of a democracy is universal, transparent, and direct election. This form of election is not being established in Mongolia, since the election law and regulations are being changed by the Parliament regularly and, in the sole interest of the governing party.
The democratic elections come in the forms: majoritarian, proportional, or mixed. Six of Democratic Mongolia’s seven elections were held using a majoritarian system, with only one mixed. The only mixed election of 2012 (48 seats majoritarian, 28 proportional representation) was, four years later, “found to be unconstitutional” by the Constitutional Court (CC). The CC concluded that the parties’ failure to announce their candidates violated the principle of individual’s right to elect and to be elected. The other six majoritarian elections differ only in constituency size (large 29 or small 76).
Having one large, multi-candidates constituency raises three issues. First, due to the large size of the constituency, the campaigning costs for the candidates to reach out to the electorates increase sharply. Second, it encourages an unhealthy competition within the party. Third, there is a high probability of a procedural dispute arising from a minor discrepancy in votes (election results were challenged and five people were killed during the 2008 election dispute). Especially, competition between candidates from the same party can compromise party formation by splitting and intensifying factional struggles. The increase in campaign costs provokes corruption, while the competition of wealth leads to the formation of a clientelist system.
Party Leadership
Once a political party is chosen as a leader of society by taking power through democratic elections, it should act as bridge between society and the state. In order to democratize the society, the party itself must at least be internally democratic, have its own procedures, and its members must be accountable.
What about the two largest political parties in power? A few days ago, political parties announced their candidates for the 2020 parliamentary elections. This is an important activity that takes place in accordance with the party’s rules, which are one of the main dimensions of a party’s internal democracy. However, that night, the two parties broke all rules and fought to demonstrate each other power and money. The leadership of the ruling MPP has not fulfilled their firm promise, namely, to ban any SME’s (small and medium enterprises) thieves from running in the elections. A member of the DP had worked in his constituency for four years, paid a deposit of 100 million MNT to the party, and complained after losing his candidacy to another “boss” who “came up by an elevator”.. Now, the parties are ruled only by money.
Another noteworthy phenomenon related to party leaderships conspiring to divide seats between the two major parties. It seems that they are now working together to decide who to nominate and who ought to lose. In doing so, they are promoting the educated and ethical young men and women that the voters want, but in the end, the same old big fishes remain. The fact that MPP nominated candidates with a SME history and that the DP nominated candidates who were convicted is a indicator for a big conspiracy. The conspiracy of major political forces is called party cartelism, which can limit competition, distort the meaning of elections, and turn it into a well-orchestrated drama. However, the relatively large number of new candidates nominated by the two parties in the 2020 elections raises the expectation that democracy will take a small step forward.
Lost Faith
In the previous elections, and in this one, there has been a trend towards having high hopes for independent candidates. This is due to the lost faith of the electorate in the parties. Many people expect the party’s program to be state policy; however, the governments served only few groups. Although the government has changed, the content has not. I wrote about this in detail “Why did the bridge break?”
Even if independent candidates win in all constituencies, they do not get the power to rule the state. State power is vested in an institution or organization that does not depend on individuals. A political party is an irreplaceable subject of representative democracy. John Stuart Mill, the father of classical liberalism, concluded that “representative democracy is the best of all possible political systems.” He proved that only representative democracy has more mechanisms and institutions to block political risks, therefore it is more effective than a direct democracy. For instance, as soon as mature political parties come to power, they form their government relatively quickly, and begin to address the issues at hand. If 60 independent candidates are elected on this election, they will have no choice but to join a party, and two years would not suffice to form a government. Nonetheless, it is pointless to hold a government accountable if it is comprised of independent candidates since it will take too long to formalize and adopt the policy objectives and programs.
Election during a Pandemic
This election is taking place in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries have postponed elections, whilst some have not. As of last week, 97 elections (regional, presidential, parliamentary, by-elections, referendums, etc.) were postponed in 56 countries (detailed list provided by The International Foundation for Electoral Systems).
Countries that are holding elections on time are following the recommendations (detailed list of elections held in March and April). These include distancing, wearing masks and gloves, using hand sanitizer gels and soap, and wearing special protective clothing for polling station staff. Due to the ban of public gatherings, campaigns are mainly conducted through media and social networks. Car speakers are used as well. The New Zealand Electoral Commission, for example, has issued a page on its official website titled ‘COVID-19 and 2020 Elections’ and regularly updates its citizens with election rules and guidelines (New Zealand Electoral Commission).
The Republic of Korea provided the opportunity to vote by mail and ballot box before the announcement date. Body temperatures were as well measured at polling stations complying with social distancing measures. Individuals who were isolated were also given the opportunity to cast their ballots at special times. We hope that all these experiences will be emulated by the General Election Commission of Mongolia.
Overall, at the current level of our democracy, mixed and open-list forms of elections will be the main impetus for the formation of parties.
2020.05.22
Trans. by Riya.T and Sungerel.U