By Kh. KHALIUN

Although the State Great Khural planned to discuss 12 issues on February 15, a quickly approaching recess kept many members silent.
The first issue raised was that of the Election of Provinces. Members made no comments on the draft laws, presented by Z. Enkhbold and D. Lundeejantsan. Due to the lack of time the State Great Khural decided to approve the draft laws immediately. The two drafts law are different in principle, so their merger may prove difficult. They will be sent back to the Standing Committee to be reworked until they are ready to be approved.
The Draft Law on the 39th regulation of the State Great Khural regarding the usage of Tavan Tolgoi (TT) Mine was also discussed. Two draft laws have been presented and merged by D. Odbayar and Ya. Batsuuri.

By E.SOLONGO

The autumn assembly of the State Great Khural was ceased on February 15 by decision from the Democratic Party (DP).
This action means that the issues of rural area elections and amendment of the 39th Decree of the State Great Khural will need to be addressed during a special session. If approved, the session will convene today.
At the end of the autumn assembly saw the Law of Education and Court, and the Budget Amendment of 2012 confirmed.

By Kh. KHALIUN

The Chairman of the Standing Committee on Security and Foreign Policy Ya. Batsuuri. believes that the current law, which punishes both the bribe provider and recipient, must be terminated. Here is the interview with
-Do we have a law to punish both individuals who gave and took the bribes?
-Yes, I think this law was the basis for the development of corruption. Corruption has been growing secretly since 2000. Now, it is a risk to national security. Mongolia cannot develop well unless we stop the corruption. We must take lots of measures to stop it. One step we have taken is the Conflict of Interest Law.
-There are many people who believe the organizations of the police, law, and control are not doing enough, that their structures and functions are in conflict. Could we stop the corruption without reworking the police organizations and courts? I think the backing from the State Great Khural is missing.
-The issue about reworking the organization of the courts is urgent. People believe that corruption is growing because of the honor less work of the court. We must discuss a package of laws directed at the courts.
The State Great Khural makes the laws and controls organizations. It's wrong. For example, the majority party of the State Great Khural appoints the State Audit Board. They select their people to the Audit Board, and when the Audit Board investigates the state industries there aren't any conflict revealed.
I requested that the Prime Minister investigate state industries through an international audit organization two years ago. He promised to take measures to do this, but still there has been no investigation. If we don't do anything, we can't fight against corruption.
- Do we need to make changes to the Criminal Law too?
- According to Criminal Law both individuals who gave bribes and took bribes must be punished. If we hold up this clause no corruption case would be revealed. We need to transfer into a structure, which punishes the individual who took the bribe, but not the one who gave the bribe. Foreign researchers have advised us to do this many times, but the authorities don’t listen to them. The proposed amendments to the Criminal Law of Corruption have been sent. I hope the State Great Khural will decide this soon.
-Can you make the changes to the Criminal Court?
-I will try my best to approve the project. I will work to make this issue a priority to be discussed during the Spring Session.
The involvement, participation, and support of media outlets is important.

By Kh.KHALIUN

Chairman of the General Committee of Election (GCE) N. Luvsanjav, and Secretary General Ch. Sodnomtseren spoke about election management and preparation on February 6.
The State Great Khural prepared legislation regarding the election and the GCE is handling implementation of the law.
The GCE emphasized that the election of 2012 has a number of both challenges and exciting developments.
Votes will have to be collected and accurately counted from Mongolians living abroad, and civil servants or service workers, not party representatives as in the past, will work at polling stations. Automatic voting machines will also be used for the first time.
Numerous citizens and organizations have logged complaints saying that the Law of Election is confusing. The GCE requested that the Supreme Court review and make the necessary changes to the areas of concern.
Here is the interview with N. Luvsanjav.
-The GCE is working with the Supreme Court to resolve issues with the law. Which clauses were not understandable or seemed to have double meanings?
-We sent about 40 clauses to be reviewed. For example, the voting time was to run from 07.00 – 20.00, but Mongolia has a wide territory and there are time differences. How could we address the time difference? The clause prohibiting candidates drawing the attention of voters needs to be reviewed as well.
-The law to hold both State and province elections on the same day is still being discussed. But, there are opponents of the proposals from other parties of the State Great Khural. Is it possible that the elections will be held on the same day?
-There are many views. Some think that having the elections take place on one day is possible because we are going to use automatic voting machines. But before this, we all need to have the same understanding of the law.
The GCE is warning people of one thing; candidates’ names become set for good 20 days before election. We publish these names on every voting sheet differently. We published over 26 types of ballots during the election of the State Great Khural. If the State Great Khural and province elections take place on the same day, we will need to publish about 300 – 400 ballots and program the voting machines. The U.S. based company, which produces the voting machines, says to programing 300 – 400 ballots is possible, but it would take a long time.
-Actions to draw attention or votes are prohibited by law. But, there are complaints that there are hidden advertisements being used. Could the GCE possibly monitor this completely?
-The GCE could not possibly monitor all of this. We don’t’ have the manpower to monitor every candidate. So the political parties, non-governmental organizations, press and public must monitor jointly with us.
-Have the first voting machines arrived? There worry that changing the programming could tamper with results.
-There aren’t any misunderstandings with the technique or undependable technology being used. The first five machines have arrived. We will receive the other machines in stages beginning on May 10. In total, we will receive the 2500 machines, which cost USD 3200 per machine.