Losing
the MPRP label is however not something the party is willing to do overnight.
According to Otgonbayar, the MPP will also use the acronym MPRP in its
literature, at least until the next election, scheduled for 2012.


“MPRP is like JVC – it’s a brand name that everyone knows, even if some people
don’t know what the letters stand for,” he said.


“We had many revolutions during the 20th century. We had the People’s
Revolution, an educational revolution, an agricultural revolution and a
democratic revolution. So the word revolution fit our party during that era,”
he said.


“But now we are in the 21st century and we have a new vision – not of
revolution, but of development and social harmony.”


The newly-christened MPP was the country’s first political party, founded in
1921. The word “revolutionary” was added three years later.


In 1924, Mongolia declared itself a communist country, and the party ruled
unopposed for the next 66 years.


The landlocked country wedged between China and Russia shook off communist rule
in 1990 without a shot being fired, and the first democratic elections were
held in 1992, but the MPRP has remained in control for most of that time.


Mongolia is still one of the poorest nations in Asia, but its profile is
mounting as its rich deposits of copper, gold, uranium, silver and even oil
have caught the eye of foreign investors.


After a decade of trying to modernize the party, the MPP – which formally
abandoned its communist ideology following the events of 1990 – now calls
itself a centre-left democratic formation.


Elder cadres have been retired and the party has worked hard to lure fresh
blood into its ranks. Its leader, Prime Minister Batbold, is a 47-year-old
London-educated entrepreneur who took office in October 2009.