The Mongolian Liberal Democratic Party is one of the youngest parties in one of the youngest democracies in the world, Mongolia. Our country is located in Central Asia between Russia and China. We are a crossroads of trade and a ancient country with magnificent native traditions. Our own political beginnings as a Mongolian nation dates back to the time of Chinggis Khan. We are therefore continuing an ancient tradition of self determination. The Great Hural, the Mongolian parliament, is a continuation of the Mongolian national hural which originated in the time of the Great Mongolian Empire, and is therefore one of the oldest democratic legislative bodies on earth.
The statue of Sukhbaatar, the George Washington of Mongolia, on the
central square of the Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar.
The government buildings, including the parliament, face on this square.
The Mongolian Liberal Democratic Party was founded on March 5, 1998 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It currently has 3500 members. There are offices in Ulaanbaatar and in 21 aimags.
The important issues for our party are combating poverty, promoting human rights, right to privacy, guaranteeing a decent standard of living for all. Also to ensure that the new democratic reforms in Mongolia will bring the maximum amount of good for all people and not bring new hardships during the transition from a central planned economy to a free market. We also believe that the democratic system in Mongolia needs a second stage of renewal because many of the things which were promised in the past and which people expected to achieve in the new Mongolian democratic society are still not fulfilled. Many Mongols still do not have the degree of freedom and opportunity which they expect and deserve to have as do all free peoples.
What is liberalism?
Liberal parties are defined here as those parties adhering liberal values:
freedom, democracy and social justice. Main sub-labels are social-liberal
for the more progressive liberal parties and conservative liberal for the
more traditional or classical liberal parties. The libertarian parties are
not included.
Centrist parties are defined here as parties which are in the centre of the political spectrum without officially adhering liberal values. Included are also agrarian parties, using agrarian-centrist.
Liberal parties have a strong presence in over half of the countries in the world, and in some cases, such as in Japan and the Philippines, they are the ruling party.
An Overview of Democracy in Mongolia
Mongolia had a Soviet-dominated Communist regime for almost 70 years, from 1921
to 1990. In fact, Mongolia was the second country in the world to become
Communist after Russia. In the fall of 1989 and the spring of 1990 new currents of
political thought began to emerge in Mongolia, inspired by the glasnost
policies of Mikhail Gorbachev and the collapse of the Communist regimes in
Eastern Europe. In March of 1990 a hunger strike by the leaders of the
Mongolian democratic movement stunned the country and brought the Mongolian
Communist regime to its knees. In very short order the Mongolian Communist
party renounced communism and several other democratic parties appeared.
In spite of this, the former Communist Party, the MAHN, continued to have control of the parliament until 1996. While it had officially renounced communism, it was essentially conservative and slowed the process of democratic reforms and privatization. During this same time the president of Mongolia was P. Ochirbat, an independent.
In 1996 the Mongolian Democratic Union, a coalition of several domcratic parties in Mongolia, including the Mongolian Social Democrats, the Mongolian Democratic Party, and others, worked together to topple the dominant MAHN. They secured the first victory for a democratic party in the elections in June 1996. This victory was partly due to the assistance of advisors from the American Republican Party.
Since that time reforms have been implemented with great speed. However, these reforms have not all been to the benefit of the Mongolian people at large. The American Republican advisors of the new government were of a very conservative political ideology and national medical insurance and other welfare programs were largely dismantled, resulting in a shocking increase in poverty. Market economic reforms have granted greater freedom in the business sphere but while it has brought greater wealth to the upper classes and to foreign investors there has been a marked increase in social inequality and human suffering among the lower-paid workers. The educational system is in grave danger as private schools are drawing away the best teachers from public schools.
The turnout for elections in Mongolia is quite high, about 87% of 1,138,000 eligible voters. For this reason the frustration of the Mongolian people with the new government was immediately mirrored in the defeat of the independent President Ochirbat by the MAHN candidate Bagabandi in the presidential elections last year.
These sentiments are still very strong, and it has been reflected in several dramatic demonstrations in the last few months. For this reason many of the participants in the original democratic movement in 1990 are now banding together to form the Mongolian Liberal Democratic Party. It is their goal to present an alternative to the radical market reforms of the Democratic Union on one hand and to the conservatism of the MAHN on the other.
Our Strategy
It is our plan to develop organizing committees in the 21 aimags (provinces)
and 76 voting districts in Mongolia in time to develop a coordinated campaign
for the parliamentary elections of June, 2000. Most immediately, however, the MLDP
plans to work on the candidacy of their own people in special elections to
be held this summer following the death of two MPs from Tuv and Darkhan aimags.
We want to join together with liberal parties and other parties sharing our views from around the world in order to get advice and assistance for the following things:
Campaign Fundraising
Party Organizing
Getting out the Vote
Political Strategy
Writing Campaign Literature
Ensuring continued Success and Political Presence
We welcome all who are interested to contact us and work with us.
May we all work together to bring greater social justice and happiness to citizens of all countries worldwide!
Links to other sites on the Web
Mongolia On Line
Liberal International
Please feel free to e-mail us if you have questions, advise, or if you want to show us your support!
© 1997 mldparty@geocities.com
Get your own Free Home Page