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.