Elbegdorj new president in Mongolia

Yesterday Tsakhigiin Elbegdorj claimed that he had won the Presidential Election 2009 in Mongolia in front of his enthusiastic followers in front of Government House, in Ulaanbaatar. A little bit later his opponent, President Nambaryn Enkhbayar, admitted that he had been defeated. Later in the evening followers and members of Mongolian National Democratic Party (MNDP) celebrated in the Sukhbaatar Square, firing off exensive amounts of fireworks. Oh yes, it is Elbegdorj in the photo, but he is hard to spot thanks to all the journalist and cameramen. But that's only of the negative consequences brougth along with celebrity.

Elbegdorj's campaign promised the Mongolian people change and to deal with corruption (does anybody feel the spirit of Barack Obama here). Seemingly the Mongolians put faith in those promises. One commentator said that the Mongolians probably did choose the lesser bad out of two evils. Another one, most probably a cynic, commented by saying that: "- Of course the Mongolians had to let Elbegdorj win: -Who knows what he was going to burn down otherwise?" The cynic wants to remain anonymous, though!

Nevertheless, Elbegdorj held his speech in his moment of triumph. And a question that comes to mind is: What can he do? The Mongolian Presidency is largely ceremonial and the powers of the president by and large negative, which means that he has the power to veto decisions that the Mongolian Parliament supports with less than two thirds majority. As the present government has such a support there is seemingly no problem. But if the part of the coalition government that are MNDP MP:s defect from the government, thus bringing it beneath that critical point, then Elbegdorj has the powers to veto in principle all decisions made by the government. That was in principle what former president Bagabandi did between 1997 and 2000 during the rule of the Democratic Alliance, from 1996 to 2000. This destructive policy forced change of no less than four Prime Miniters, of which Elbegdorj was the last one. The point is what is going on his mind now? Is he keen on vengeance? Or can he forgive? Are his fellow MP:s ready to leave the coalition government?

If the last thing is going to happen Mongolia will be difficult to govern for the next three years. And talk about dealing with change and combatting corruption might just be empty rhetoric and the Mongolian people might become very dissapointed. So lets hope that Elbegdorj is going to let bygones be bygones, and turn out to be a cooperative president. Or if he does not, lets hope that the MNDP stays in the coalition government.