Elections in Mongolia

The General Election Commission, known as the GEC, is Mongolia’s permanent independent national election authority. It administers parliamentary elections, presidential elections and referendums, while local election committees work under its professional and methodological direction. Polling committees are formed for individual elections rather than operating permanently. The State Great Hural, Mongolia’s parliament, has 126 seats. Voters elect 78 members in 13 territorial districts by highest vote totals and 48 members from nationwide party or coalition lists. A party must receive at least 4 percent of the vote, a two-party coalition 5 percent and a coalition of three or more parties 7 percent to qualify for proportional seats. The 48 list seats are allocated proportionally using equal redistribution of the gap and the largest-remainder method. In the 2024 parliamentary election, the MPP won 68 seats, the DP 42, HUN 8, Үндэсний эвсэл 4 and the Civil Will Green Party 4. The President is elected directly by secret ballot. A candidate who receives more than half of the votes cast wins; otherwise, the two leading candidates compete in a second round within 14 days. If neither candidate receives a majority in the second round, a new election takes place. A presidential candidate must be a native Mongolian citizen aged at least 50 who has maintained permanent residence in Mongolia for at least five years. The presidential term is six years and cannot be renewed. The regular cycle following the 2021 election is due in 2027, with the exact date set by Parliament. Local elections select representatives to the Citizens’ Representative Khural, or ИТХ, of an aimag, the capital, a soum or a district. These elections use one- or multi-mandate districts, with the highest-vote candidates winning. Regular local terms last four years; the 2024 local polling took place on 11 October. A voter must be a Mongolian citizen aged 18 or older, have full legal capacity and appear on the voter list. People declared legally incapacitated by a court and people serving a prison sentence are excluded. The civil-registration system supplies the voter list. For parliamentary elections, the list is published online from 1 May of the election year, and for presidential elections from 1 April. A voter can request a correction up to 14 days before polling, and corrections can generally be made no later than three days before polling. Parliamentary candidates must be at least 25. Local representative candidates must also be at least 25 and have maintained continuous permanent registration in the relevant aimag, capital, soum or district for at least 180 days. Parties, coalitions and independent candidates can participate in parliamentary elections. A party or coalition seeking participation must submit its request to the GEC at least 60 days before polling. Campaigns use party or candidate programmes and separate election-expense accounts. Parties and coalitions report expenses within 45 days after polling, while candidates report within 30 days. Private auditors and the State Audit Office examine these reports. Voters do not pay to vote, but campaign spending and donations are subject to legal limits, and cash donations are prohibited. On election day, alcohol sales, mass events and indoor or outdoor trade and service activities are restricted under election rules. Domestic polling normally runs from 07:00 to 22:00 Ulaanbaatar time. A voter goes to the polling station for their permanent residence, presents identification and completes a biometric or fingerprint check against the voter register. If the device or fingerprint check fails, election officials can use identification and a manual record procedure. The voter signs, marks the ballot in a secret booth, uses a secrecy folder and inserts the ballot into an automated counter or ballot box. One replacement ballot may be issued before insertion when a marking mistake occurs or the device cannot read the ballot. Voters with health, disability or educational limitations may choose an adult to assist them. An assistant may help no more than two voters and may not be election staff, a candidate or an observer. Polling stations provide Braille sleeves, wheelchair access and a disability booth. Eligible voters who cannot attend in person, including certain deployed or medically unable voters, may request a mobile sealed ballot box for the preceding day from 09:00 to 20:00 with medical or official proof. Citizens abroad register through a diplomatic mission during a registration window from 40 to 20 days before polling and may vote in parliamentary elections for up to four days at the mission. After voting, polling equipment produces a result sheet and transmits the result immediately. Observers receive copies, and every polling station conducts a manual control count that observers, media and voter representatives may attend. If a device fails, officials use a reserve device or the manual procedure. Ballot records are sealed and archived; opening them requires a court order, a GEC representative, at least two independent witnesses and police control. Observers may represent parties, coalitions or candidates, or belong to GEC-registered civil-society, foreign or international organizations. They may inspect seals, observe procedures, report breaches and receive result sheets and ballot-image data. A complaint normally moves from the lower election committee to the higher committee and then to the GEC. A committee decision can generally be challenged within seven days. GEC election results under Article 74 of the Election Law go to the Constitutional Court, while other GEC decisions go to the Administrative Court of Appeal and potentially the Supreme Court. Election results also trigger a limited government-formation process. The GEC submits parliamentary results within 15 days. The President submits a prime-minister nominee to the State Great Hural within five days, based on the majority party or coalition or a coalition capable of forming a majority. Parliament appoints the Prime Minister, and the government’s mandate begins with that appointment. The rule on invalidating a parliamentary ballot when fewer district candidates are marked remains legally contested after conflicting developments involving the Constitutional Court and Parliament Resolution 93, so it should be checked again before the 2028 parliamentary election. The wording of the Presidential Law concerning the term length was corrected to six years by an amendment dated 19 June 2026.