- Title: MONGOLIA: ELECTION PREVIEW.
- Date: 27th June 2000
- Summary: ULAN BATOR, MONGOLIA (JUNE 27, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV: VIEW OF ULAN BATOR, CAPITAL OF MONGOLIA 0.06 2. GV: BUSES AND TRAFFIC ON MAIN STREET 0.11 3. GV: HUGE ELECTION CAMPAIGN BILLBOARD 0.17 4. CU: PICTURE OF NAMBARIIN ENKHBAYAR, GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE MONGOLIAN PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY (MPRP) 0.22 5. GV: PEOPLE WALKING ON HE STREET 0.26 6. CU/PAN: FLAG OF MONGOLIAN PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY (MPRP) AND A CROWD ATTENDING AN ELECTION RALLY 0.36 7. MV: PEOPLE LISTENING 0.41 8. SCU: NAMBARIIN ENKHBAYAR, GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE OPPOSITION MONGOLIAN PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY (MPRP), TALKING WITH PEOPLE 0.48 9. GV: CROWD GATHERED AROUND ENKHBAYAR 0.51 10. MV: TWO OLD MEN DRESSED IN TRADITIONAL COSTUMES LISTENING 0.58 11. GV: CROWD AND CHILDREN RUNNING AROUND 1.01 12. CU: SOUNDBITE (Mongolian) VIXPOP MS. HOROLDAGVA: "Once they (the ruling coalition) came to power, they put none of their plans into practice. They really let the people down and I'm very angry about it. That's why I support this party (the MPRP/opposition party)." 1.15 13. GV: EXTERIOR OF THE MONGOLIAN PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY (MPRP) HEADQUARTERS 1.22 14. MV: NAMBARIIN ENKHBAYAR AT HIS DESK 1.26 15. CU: EMBLEM OF THE MPRP 1.31 16. CU: SOUNDBITE (English) NAMBARIIN ENKHBAYAR, GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE MONGOLIAN PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY (MPRP): "The government and the state is in crisis, because of the fact that the government is not serving the people. Rather, it's serving the small circles of business people and small circles of politicians. "So what we will try to bring and are promising to bring is - the government will bring the government which will pursue the people of Mongolia - those poor people and those unemployed people." 2.01 GACHUURT, NEAR ULAN BATOR, MONGOLIA (JUNE 28, 2000) 17. LV: SHEEP, GOATS AND COWS GRAZING IN SCENIC COUNTRYSIDE 2.08 18. GV: COWS GRAZING 2.12 19. GV: BOY WALKING PAST A GER - TRADITIONAL NOMADIC HERDSMEN'S PORTABLE TENT WHERE MOST MONGOLIANS LIVE 2.19 20. GV: GIRL MILKING GOAT 2.24 21. CU: GOATS TIED UP IN A NEAT ROW 2.28 22. MCU/CU: VARIOUS OF GIRL MILKING A GOAT (3 SHOTS) 2.43 23. GV: DUGERSUREN, 50-YEAR-OLD NOMADIC HERDSMAN WEARING TRADITIONAL COSTUME RIDING A WHITE HORSE 2.58 24. GV: HORSE AND LIVESTOCK IN THE BACKGROUND 3.03 25. GV: DUGERSUREN WALKING INTO HIS GER 3.09 26. GV/TILT: INTERIOR OF GER AND DUGERSUREN EATING YOGURT 3.14 27. CU: YOGURT AND GOATS CHEESE ON A TABLE 3.18 28. MCU: SOUNDBITE (Mongolian) DUGERSUREN: "I often hear on the radio that they are having big quarrels. Some of them say 'let's privatise the industries', and others say 'no'. And some of them are for land privatization, and some say no. They fight all the time. Can't they come to some agreement?" 3.41 ULAN BATOR, MONGOLIA (JUNE 27, 2000) 29. GV: TRAFFIC ON A BUSY DOWNTOWN STREET 3.47 30. GV: EXTERIOR OF NATIONAL PARLIAMENT BUILDING 3.51 31. LV: RINCHINNY AMIIN AMARJARGAL, PRIME MINISTER OF THE MONGOLIAN PARLIAMENT AND THE HEAD OF THE RULING MONGOLIAN NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (MNDP), AT HIS DESK 3.56 32. MCU: SOUNDBITE (English) RINCHINNY AMIIN AMARJARGAL, PRIME MINISTER OF THE MONGOLIAN PARLIAMENT AND THE HEAD OF THE RULING MONGOLIAN NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (MNDP): "Mongolia should be integrated as part of the world economy, part of this globalised world. In this regard, without restructuring the most valued enterprises, we call it, Erdenet, MIAT, Gobi and so on, Mongolia simply cannot survive. "So if you really care about the interests of the ordinary people and the interests of this country, you have to do it (privatise)." 4.24 33. GV: YOUNG BOYS SHINNING SHOES OF PASSERS-BY 4.31 34. GV: PEDESTRIANS ON STREET 4.36 35. GV/CU: CHRIS HOLZEN, ANALYST WITH INTERNATIONAL REPUBLICAN INSTITUTE WHICH IS IN CHARGE OF MONITORING THE ELECTIONS, AT HIS DESK (2 SHOTS) 4.46 36. CU: SOUNDBITE (English) HOLZEN: "To suggest that all of the problems with privatisation were part of the coalition, begs the question, what did they (the opposition MPRP - Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party) do for the four years that they were in control. "Their answer to that is usually, we're not the same party, instead we're like; New Democrats, New Labour, New Communists - the new MPRP or the third way. "Is there any truth in that? Perhaps we'll see. But I think that any time you have privatisation processes, they're very tempting." 5.20 37. GV: CROWD GATHERS AROUND RAP MUSICIANS ON STAGE FOR AN ELECTION CAMPAIGN RALLY 5.26 38. MCU: BOYS PERCHED ON TELEPHONE POLE WATCHING 5.30 39. CU: MONGOLIAN RAP ARTIST WITH BLEACHED HAIR SINGING 5.38 40. CU/GV: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WATCHING AND CLAPPING (2 SHOTS) 5.46 41. GV: VIEW OF NEIGHBOURHOOD OF GERS ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF ULAN BATOR 5.55 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 12th July 2000 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ULAN BATOR AND GACHUURT, MONGOLIA
- Country: Mongolia
- Reuters ID: LVA54HHGA8GEYO2UI2PJR8SA4T67
- Story Text: In a flurry of mudslinging, political intrigue and rock
music rallies, Mongolia is preparing to vote this weekend in
an election which is likely to bring the nation's former
Communist rulers back to power.
In Ulan Bator, the capital city of Mongolia, election
campaign has entered the final stages as people get ready to
vote on Sunday (July 2).
Sunday's parliamentary elections are seen as a
referendum on a decade of reform that has failed to deliver on
its promise of a better life in one of the world's poorest
nations.
One third of Mongolia's 2. 4 million people live below the
poverty line on less than 10 U.S. dollars a month.
Signs and billboards, normally advertising consumer
products, now prominently display the faces of the candidates.
Just four years after being dumped from power, Mongolia's
former communists are set to make a comeback by jumping aboard
a wave of public disillusion with the ruling democratic
coalition.
The Mongolian People Revolutionary Party (MPRP), known
as the "ex-communists", ruled for 75 years until 1996 when
they were ousted from parliament in a landslide defeat by the
democratic coalition.
At a rally among the felt tents of an Ulan Bator suburb,
MPRP leader Nambariin Enkhbayar explained his platform to his
constituents in a small informal rally.
The MPRP's platform of strong government and higher
welfare spending receives strong support from the public, who
are fed up with the democratic coalition.
Since the coalition came to power in 1996, poverty rates
have skyrocketed and the welfare system has all but collapsed.
Horoldagva, (pronounced Horold-dagvar) attending the rally
with her family, gave reasons for her dissatisfaction with the
ruling coalition.
"Once they (the ruling coalition) came to power, they put
none of their plans into practice. They really let the people
down and I'm very angry about it. That's why I support this
party (the MPRP/opposition party)," Ms. Horoldagva said.
While the MPRP is not against market economy, it wants to
slow the pace of privatisation and bring back social programs.
"The government and the state is in crisis because of
the fact that the government is not serving the people.
Rather, it's serving the small circles of business people and
small circles of politicians. So what we will try to bring and
are promising to bring is - the government will bring the
government which will pursue the people of Mongolia - those
poor people and those unemployed people," said Nambariin
Enkhbayer (pronounced Nahm-bgaarin enkh-bayer) general
secretary of the Mongolia's People's Revolutionary Party
(MPRP).
A vast majority of the population live in the countryside
as nomadic herdsman.
Their existence has always been based on raising sheep,
cattle, goats and horses for survival.
Thousands of nomad families lost their livelihoods last
winter, the worst in 30 years, as more than 2. 5 million
livestock were wiped out.
Almost all of them live in felt tents called ger
(pronounced gnir) on the vast grasslands of the Monoglian
steppes, days away on horseback from the closest neighbour.
Since the fall of communism in 1990 and the rise of a
market economy, even people living in the countryside detached
from the political strife and far from Ulan Bator have
benefited from the reforms.
They can sell their goat's milk and other products such
as cheese and yoghurt on the free market to earn more cash.
Dugersuren is a 50-year old herdsman who has taken
advantage of the new system. He now owns more than 500 sheep
and goats, a dozen cows and eight horses including his
favourite white one.
While he has gained tremendously from the cash
incentives, the complex issues of political bickering
surrounding the election has left him tired and confused.
He said: "I often hear on the radio that they are having
big quarrels. Some of them say let's privatise the industries,
and others say no. And some of them are for land
privatisation, and some say no. They fight all the time. Can't
they come to some agreement?" he complained.
Back in Ulan Bator, the debate continues. The Mongolian
National Democratic Party (MNDP) wants to push through with
privatisation and market reforms.
MNDP is the majority leader in the ruling democratic
coalition that came to power in the 1996 parliamentary
elections.
Rinchinnyamiin Arnarjargal (pronounced rin-chineey-ammin
amaarjarghal) is the head of the MNDP and Prime Minister.
While his party's grip on power is slipping, he still
wants to continue with the economic reforms. He said:
"Mongolia should be integrated as part of the world economy,
part of this globalised world. In this regard, without
restructuring the most valued enterprises, we call it,
Erdenet, MIAT, Gobi and so on, Mongolia simply cannot survive.
So if you really care about the interests of the ordinary
people and the interests of this country, you have to do it
(privatise)," said Arnarjargal.
Erdnet, MIAT and Gobi are major state-owned enterprises
in key sectors.
Political in-fighting and parliamentary boycott by the
opposition has left MNDP politically-crippled during its short
rule.
The general public also blames the MNDP for the rampant
corruption that came along with privatisation and market
reforms.
But analysts are lukewarm to an ex-communist victory,
and are skeptical about their platform.
Chris Holzen is an analyst with the International
Republic Institute, which is in charge of monitoring the
elections. He said:
"To suggest that all of the problems with privatisation were
part of the coalition begs the question 'What did they (the
opposition MPRP - Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party) do
for the four years that they were in control?'
"Their answer to that is usually, 'we're not the same
party, instead we're like; New Democrats, New Labour, New
Communists - the new MPRP or the third way'.
"Is there any truth in that? Perhaps we'll see. But I
think that any time you have privatisation processes, they're
very tempting," said Holzen.
As campaigning enters the home stretch ahead of Sunday's
elections, bleached-blond hip-hop performers attract huge
crowds to MPRP rallies in the felt tent suburbs of Ulan Bator,
and help to add gloss to the crusty old image of the
ex-communists.
At the moment, the ex-communists seem unstoppable, and
look to win the majority they need to get their way in
economic planning.
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