Ulaanbaatar
President advises not to rush amending Constitution
Politics
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ President of Mongolia Kh.Battulga welcomed in his office the members of working group on amending the Constitution, including D.Lundeejantsan, G.Zandanshatar and J.Batzandan MPs on August 14. Present were, N.Altankhuyag, President's political advisor, and Z.Enkhbold, Chief of Staff of the Office of the President.
D.Lundeejantsan MP briefed: “Motivation for the initiative to amend the Constitution came from the newly established mechanism of public referendum, upon adoption of the Law on Public Referendum”.
“The most common opinions are, at first, “the Constitution must not be meddled with”, second, “the Constitution must be upgraded”, and third, which has come from few members of the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) and the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) and E.Bat-Uul from the Democratic Party (DP), “the Parliament can be divided into two houses: Upper and Lower”, he introduced.
“60 percent of the referendum participants backed the motion to keep the parliamentary system and amend the Constitution”, said D.Lundeejantsan and handed over a draft outlining five packages of 22 issues.
President Kh.Battulga said: “There are advantages in the seven changes made to the Constitution back in 2000, as well as disadvantages. It is common understanding that this time the Constitution needs amending because the distribution of power among the three highest-ranking state officials must be re-considered”.
Chief of Staff of the President’s Office Z.Enkhbold responded that the issue of amending the Constitution should be considered after settling the case of MNT 60 billion [bargaining of positions in public offices]. A parliament which has been formed on the grounds of such unsolved case must not be authorized to change the Constitution of the country.
President Kh.Battulga reminded the working group that they should also consider that 65 out of the total 76 members of the State Great Khural (Parliament) are from one party and 41 members are all newly-elected. “Amending the Constitution is not very urgent matter at this moment compared to the expected loss of harvest and other timely problems facing the country”, he said.
D.Lundeejantsan MP briefed: “Motivation for the initiative to amend the Constitution came from the newly established mechanism of public referendum, upon adoption of the Law on Public Referendum”.
“The most common opinions are, at first, “the Constitution must not be meddled with”, second, “the Constitution must be upgraded”, and third, which has come from few members of the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) and the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) and E.Bat-Uul from the Democratic Party (DP), “the Parliament can be divided into two houses: Upper and Lower”, he introduced.
“60 percent of the referendum participants backed the motion to keep the parliamentary system and amend the Constitution”, said D.Lundeejantsan and handed over a draft outlining five packages of 22 issues.
President Kh.Battulga said: “There are advantages in the seven changes made to the Constitution back in 2000, as well as disadvantages. It is common understanding that this time the Constitution needs amending because the distribution of power among the three highest-ranking state officials must be re-considered”.
Chief of Staff of the President’s Office Z.Enkhbold responded that the issue of amending the Constitution should be considered after settling the case of MNT 60 billion [bargaining of positions in public offices]. A parliament which has been formed on the grounds of such unsolved case must not be authorized to change the Constitution of the country.
President Kh.Battulga reminded the working group that they should also consider that 65 out of the total 76 members of the State Great Khural (Parliament) are from one party and 41 members are all newly-elected. “Amending the Constitution is not very urgent matter at this moment compared to the expected loss of harvest and other timely problems facing the country”, he said.
Source: Public Relations and Communications Division of the Office of the President
B.Amarsaikhan
B.Amarsaikhan
