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The chaos theory of Mongolia

I returned to Mongolia 15 years ago after an absence of 13 years, save for the occasional 2-week leave from work, and that time I spent a semester and a half at a local university drinking endless cups of brown, watery 150 Tugrik instant MaCcoffee at the cafĂ© strangely, or perhaps egotistically, named "In my memory", writing the first and so far the only book that got us into trouble with the local intelligence who apparently had little else to do than to pore through the ramblings of teenagers to catch the tell-tale signs of drug dealery. But I digress. When you visit a country for a short period, be it home or not, you hardly have time to immerse yourself in the spirit of the country and the city and feel the nitty gritty and dirty shiny of it all. So after 13 years, it took me a while to readjust and finally understand what the hometown of my childhood had become.  The most striking, ubiquitous, and inescapable feature was and still, unfortunately, is the traffic. In 2008,...

Silent Protest at Sukhbaatar Square

[Source:news.gogo.mn]
Families of the "Black Tuesday" (or Stone Revolution as some are calling it derisively) detainees along with National Green Movement and Civil Front Movement members have organized a silent demonstration at Sukhbaatar Square, demanding the release of the detainees. Approximately 20 protesters began the silent protest earlier today at Sukhbaatar square with a piece of paper taped over their mouths with the message "Release", and sympathizers joined them. Gogo.mn reports that the police are now attempting to disperse the crowd, on the grounds that Sukhbaatar District administration did not approve their request to hold the demonstration.

Further to the DP's unanimous decision to take the GEC chairman, B.Battulga, to court, the Special Investigative Unit, a public institution that reports to the Prosecutor General's office, subpoenaed Mr.Battulga, who earlier today gave his statement to the SIU. The Democrats claim that the GEC presented President Enkhbayar with 2 different sets of results on the 10 and 14th of July.

As for the 10 remaining seats in 3 disputed constituencies, Gogo.mn reports today that the final results are in from Khentii constituency. The local election committee at Khentii has decided that the election results do not require a recount. This is confusing. Did not the decision to recount votes come from the GEC? And aren't the local election committees supposed to comply with the GEC decision and recount the votes?

All in all, the political life in Mongolia is now suffering from inaction. The case of the detainees is unclear, with little or nothing apparent being done. The new Parliament is in limbo and the DP / MPRP teams have yet to reach an agreement. No changes to Khentii election results, and no updates on the other 2 constituencies, Dornod Aimag and Bayangol duureg of UB.

Perhaps it's the summer holidays that's slowing things down?

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