Wiretapping to be discussed

News.mn reports that 4 of the Great Khural standing committees will convene today to discuss the state budget for 2010-2012. What drew my interest and concern was a bit about the Internal Security, Foreign Policy Committee meeting. The committee members will meet to discuss possible changes to the Communications law, which includes legalizing wiretapping of mobile communication for law enforcement purposes.

No information at the moment is available on the committee's section of the Parliament website, which is regularly updated with transcripts of meetings and other documents. The proposal, prepared by the Government, may be rejected by the Parliament according to news.mn. While the news article doesn't go into further detail, it sounds like warrantless surveillance to me. More details to come as and when available following the standing committee's meeting.

DP Victory celebration

DP supporters gathered at Sukhbaatar square with the party flags yesterday afternoon around 3 to celebrate Ts.Elbegdorj's victory over N.Enkhbayar. Unfortunately, from up here, this is the closest I could zoom in to Elbegdorj's triumphant hands-in-the-air.  He's the lone person coming down the stairs from the Chinggis statue towards the crowd. If you zoom in, you'll get this:

The speeches ended after about an hour and the crowd dispersed quietly.

Happenings

According to news.mn:

Nothing has been officially announced as yet but it is certain that Elbegdorj has won in six Ulaanbaatar districts and in eight aimags. Incumbent president N.Enkhbayar, seeking reelection, has been favored in three districts of the capital and 13 aimags   ...The victory must be especially sweet for Elbegdorj as this vindicates his consistent stand that last year’s results did not reflect the popular mood. It has also shown that charges of him being responsible for instigating the July 1 incidents have been rejected by people.[Source]

Thankfully, UB is in a peaceful post-election mood, summery and green. Speaking of which, summer is upon us in May, with little warning or time to prepare ourselves psychologically. Or maybe it's just me, unprepared for the drastic seasonal changes after a few years spent in the relative climatic monotony of Singapore. Change, indeed. What awaits us now that Ts. Elbegdorj is set to take the symbolic throne of politics in Mongolia. Foreign investors will be quietly monitoring the post-election developments, I'm sure, to see if Elbegdorj's past "anti-foreign, populist" inclinations return to further complicate the mining agreement finalization.

What lies in store for N.Enkhbayar now, is what I am also curious about. During the noon press conference where he graciously conceded defeat to his opponent, he was asked if he would run in the Chingeltei by-election for the Parliament seat Elbegdorj is leaving behind. He simply replied with "An interesting idea".

No doubt N.Enkhbayar's defeat signals much more significant political changes than Ts.Elbegdorj's victory does at this moment in time. Many feel that Mongolians simply chose to vote for the lesser of two evils.

President Elbegdorj

Despite the fact that the official election results have not been announced by the General Election Committee, PM S.Bayar and President Enkhbayar held a press conference earlier (around 12.40pm), admitting defeat and congratulating Ts.Elbegdorj on the win. Based on the preliminary results, Elbegdorj is ahead by 35,000 votes. Final results from 7 aimags have yet to arrive.

For more updates and articles on the Mongolian presidential election 2009, go to MongoliaOnline.com's politics section.

Panorama 2: Terelj

360 degree Panorama of Terelj taken on May 10. Constructed from 14 images. It had snowed the day before and there was still some on the ground.

UB panorama

North UB panorama shot, taken from near Sukhbaatar square. Click on the photo for a larger view.

Mongolian gazelles

There's been a report about a couple of naturalists having seen a herd of a quarter of a million Mongolian gazelles (or зээр in Mongolian) in eastern Mongolia. I wasn't sure what to make of it first. Given that "recreational" hunting is the hobby of new Mongolians, I would've thought the gazelles would be a species under threat by now (they are a low-risk, near-threat species). The report is from 2007, so I don't know what the situation is like nowadays and I am not sure why it took the article 2 years to make it to the news. [Read the BBC article here]

But according to the Wildlife Convervation Society:

A survey was conducted of 80% of the Eastern Steppe region (~50% of the total gazelle range). Densities varied regionally between 3 and 11 gazelles/sq. km. The overall population was estimated at over one million Mongolian gazelles. [Link]

So it is, after all, a credible report. In other news, the presidential election is on the 24th of May.

Swine Flu Scare

There were reports in the news yesterday that 2 members of Altan Urag, the band, were quarantined in Moscow, Russia after falling ill with fever while in transit. It didn't help that they'd just come back from Mexico. 100+ passengers that travelled on the same plane with them as well as the remaining 5 band members were quarantined when they reached UB yesterday. News update says the two members in Moscow tested negative for the H1N1 virus and are on their way home. The test results for their co-passengers quarantined at the CDC in UB are due out this afternoon.