Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. On April 28, President Kh.Battulga met with the chairman and members of the General Election Commission of Mongolia (GEC), hearing about the preparation being taken by the GEC for the forthcoming election in the time of pandemic.  

GEC members said that they had exchanged views with officials from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on State Structure, the Government, State Emergency Commission, and Ministry of Health on how to conduct the elections during the time of COVID-19 pandemic and are making preparations under their legal obligations.

However, GEC members consider that there are some risks and a real threat. For instance, GEC member R.Sodkhuu said that a statement in the law saying “it is not possible to restrict the legal right given to candidates to conduct their election campaign, such as the distribution of newspapers and magazines to every household” is considered risky.  

Member O.Amgalanbaatar also said that there is not any estimation yet on how the elections spending is likely to increase because, no recommendation has been issued until today on how to conduct the elections.  

Moreover, candidates are legally allowed to hold their election campaigns and public meetings with voters and those rights should not be revoked to ensure the fair competition of candidates, which is a matter of particular concern during the pandemic. 

President Kh. Battulga believes that during the pandemic, it is not possible to conduct elections in a traditional manner and that the GEC should openly discuss about concerning issues and submit them to the relevant authorities.

At the meeting, they said that 2020 parliamentary elections would likely require state budget investment of around MNT470 billion, which is tens of times higher than the current spending for the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

For instance, a preliminary estimation says that the highest number of candidates, or about 800, will compete in the 2020 parliamentary elections. According to the election expense survey conducted by the relevant organizations, if every candidate spends MNT474.4 million (by national average), the spending of all candidates will be MNT 379.5 billion in total.

Assuming that each of the 19 parties and coalitions that have applied to compete in the election spends at least MNT 5 billion, it will cost MNT 95 billion. Thus preliminary estimation shows that parties, coalitions, candidates will spend approximately MNT474 billion on the election.

The President stressed that it is crucial to consider at all levels if it is appropriate to conduct elections by spending a large amount of money at this time when people's pockets are shrinking and the financial situation of companies, whose operations have suspended, is worsening due to the global pandemic.

At the end of the meeting, they concurred to hold a multi-party meeting with the participation of relevant authorities on how to conduct regular parliamentary elections with minimum risk, identify solutions to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus during the election, assess the situation realistically and draw conclusions.