Today (February 1^st) in Parliament, MP G.Zandanshatar appointed as Speaker of Parliament, taking 95.2% of the votes that were cast.  G. Zandanshatar, who currently works as the Head of the Cabinet Secretariat, was nominated by the Mongolian Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh and yesterday received the endorsement of the Executive Commission of Mongolian People’s Party.

G.Zandanshatar, who is also a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, was born in the Bayankhongor province of Mongolia in 1970 and has been elected three times by his constituents as a Member of Parliament.

On January 29th, the Mongolian Parliament dismissed M. Enkhbold who was its previous Speaker.  In recent months, several sessions of the Mongolian State Great Khural had been delayed following a boycott by almost 40 MPs who had protested the actions of the Speaker. In addition, a petition signed by 38 MPs was presented to him demanding his resignation from the post.

Earlier this month, the Mongolian Parliament amended a draft of the Parliament Session Order. Initiated by President Kh.Battulgaa, this amendment provided the opportunity for a majority of MPs to vote to dismiss the Speaker.