Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party
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The Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (Mongolian: Mongol Ardyn Huv'sgalt Nam, Монгол Ардын Хувьсгалт Нам) is an ex-communist political party in Mongolia. The party is abbreviated MPRP in English and МАХН (MAHN) in (transliterated) Mongolian. The abbreviation МАХН resembles "мах", the Mongolian word for "meat", the staple of the Mongolian diet. Because of this the MPRP is often referred to as the "meat" party.
The MPRP was the ruling party of the People's Republic of Mongolia from 1921 until 1996 (with no other political parties allowed until 1990) and from 2000 until 2004.
The current President, Nambaryn Enkhbayar, is a member of the party. As of January 2006, the party holds exactly half of the 76 seats in the State Great Hural, and has nominated former mayor of Ulan Bator, Miyeegombyn Enkhbold as party leader and prime minister.
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[edit] History
[edit] Communist era
The party was established on March 1, 1921, and is claimed to have been the first real political party in Mongolia. It was originally known simply as the Mongolian People's Party, but added the word "Revolutionary" at a conference in 1924. The organizational structure was modeled closely on that of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which the party followed closely.
The early days of the party were marked with considerable controversy, often related to Mongolia's relationship to the Soviet Union; eventually, the pro-Soviet faction was triumphant, and more independent-minded leaders such as Dogsomyn Bodoo and Peljidiyn Genden were either sidelined or executed. Genden's fall resulted in the rise of Horloogiyn Choybalsan, who was a strong follower of Joseph Stalin and is generally regarded as the most brutal of the communist-era leaders. Many members of the party were purged during this period, primarily supporters of Genden's faction.
Choybalsan was followed by Yumjaagiyn Tsedenbal, who was Prime Minister of Mongolia for twenty-two years (the longest time served by any Prime Minister). Tsedenbal was considerably more moderate than Choybalsan, but his long reign and, towards the end, declining health lead to comparisions with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
[edit] Democratic era
In the 1990s, Mongolia began to modernize its political system, implementing many of the reforms seen in the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the People's Revolutionary Party remained in office until 1996, when the Mongolian Democratic Union won power.
Under the leadership of Nambaryn Enkhbayar, the party modernized its image of corruption and appeared to shed many of the legacies of communism. Today, the party portrays itself as a social democratic organization, and its leader claims to be an admirer of Britain's Tony Blair. Based on this image, it won a landslide victory in the 2000 elections.
Critics of the party, however, allege that its "reform" was illusionary, and that the party's success was the result of better public relations rather than any real change. In particular, the party's critics have alleged that the People's Revolutionary Party sought to acquire and censor television and print media, and there were claims of opposition journalists being imprisoned. There were also several high-profile cases on inflictions on international civil or human right norms by state authorities, like the abduction of D.Enkhbat from France, the imprisonment of his lawyer L.Sanjaasuren, and the detention of MP L. Gundalai in 2003.
Since 2003 the party has the status of a full membership in the Socialist International.
[edit] Elections of 2004
The elections of June 27, 2004, saw a major defeat for the People's Revolutionary Party, which lost a total of 35 seats (47% of what it had previously held), resulting in a close tie between the MPRP and the democratic coalition. After the election, both MPRP and the opposition accused each other of irregularities. In the end, re-elections were done in a small number of constituencies. Nonetheless, both sides agreed on a power-sharing agreement in August 2004. As part of the terms of the power-sharing agreement, the MPRP would regain the Prime Ministership in August 2006 after a term in office by Tsakhiagiyn Elbegdorj of the Democratic Party.
[edit] Governement change of 2006
In January 2006, the MPRP decided to widthdraw from the coalition, and its ten ministers resigned. This meant that more than half of the minister positions were vacant, so the parliament had no choice but to dissolve the governement, removing Elbegdorj from power. The MPRP felt strong enough for this step because a DP member in parliament had switched to the MPRP a few days earlier, giving them exactly half the seats. The votes of four more DP members supporting the change (later to be rewarded with minister positions) resulted in an effective MPRP majority. In this configuration, and on nomination by president Enkhbajar, the parliament approved Miyeegombyn Enkhbold as the new prime minister on January 25th 2006-01-25.
The events triggered strong protests from civic groups and their followers, camping on the central Sükhbaatar square in Ulaanbaatar for weeks, despite police efforts to drive them away. Pro-MPRP rallies were short lived in comparison, and some participants indicated that they had received money from MPRP to join. Anti-MPRP protests flared up again in April 2006.[1]
Individuals and organizations raised concerns that the governement change might have been unconstitutional, but no specific violations could be shown. Also of interest was the time chosen. In november 2005, Customs Director General Kh. Baatar had been arrested on charges of corruption. As a result of his questioning, several high ranking MPRP members had come under suspicion as well, and were reported to have visited him in jail just a few days before ending the coalition.[2] Opposition forces alleged that executing the governement change just a few months before the date intended by the coalition agreement was instrumental in controlling the investigations in this case.
[edit] References
- ^ In Mongolia protest groups collide. Mongolia Web (April 12, 2006). Retrieved on April 21, 2006.
- ^ Officials targeted for corruption. Mongolia-Web (2005-11-02). Retrieved on February 18, 2007.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official website (English version)
