The Chairman of the State Great Hural G.Zandanshatar, members of State Great Hural D.Ganbat and A.Adyasuren worked in Bayankhongor province on 12-13 of this month. Thereafter, the Chairman of the State Great Hural G.Zandanshatar continued to work in Uvurhangai and Arhangai provinces and held meetings with the citizens and voters. During this period, he met with more than 3000 citizens and listened to their opinions.

During the meetings, the Chairman introduced the legal reforms, the civil service reform, and the draft amendment to the Constitution, and listened to the citizens' opinions. He, also, held a special meeting with the civil servants, and presented the changes to the Law Civil Servants’ Ethics and the adjustments to be implemented in the salary system, and held a discussion. Most of the civil servants desired a salary raise, elimination of salary gaps for equal work, consideration of the social security of civil servants through the legal framework. The Chairman G.Zandanshatar shared that the salary system of civil servants with 566 levels in 14 networks will be revised and changed to a system with 61 levels in 6 networks, with elimination of the difference in basic salaries. This revision will increase the lower scale, without changing the upper scale. Also, the revision will introduce a productivity-based remuneration system, combining various types of increments into the basic salary, while bringing the difference between the positions to a reasonable level. At the end, he said, a general direction was issued to regulate the salary and social security issues of civil servants by the Civil Service Law only. The Chairman G.Zandanshatar introduced a plan to eliminate the salary gaps and increase salaries and pensions, before January 1st of next year, as part of the budget amendment process.

The Chairman of the State Great Hural G.Zandanshatar explained to the citizens the reasons for amending the Constitution, the results of the amendment, and emphasized the importance of listening to the opinions of the citizens. Also, during the discussion, the Chairman highlighted the need to listen to the opinions and positions of the citizen. He highlighted the importance of every opinion and voice.

The majority of the citizens, who participated in the meetings in three provinces, supported the increase in the number of members of the Parliament, but did not support the increase to 152 seats. Instead, they suggested 108 seats as a possible option. The public opinion supported the changes in the electoral system and desired a parliament with multi-party representation, a strong opposition, and pluralistic views. However, the citizens expressed a concern that the party-list nomination may become a cover for misuse of power, if candidates are not selected properly. Also, they demanded representation of diverse groups of the society in parliament, including doctors, teachers, herders and farmers, people with disabilities and the elderly, and, therefore, to protect, preserve, and develop the democratic governance.

Due to the pandemic and other factors, people's livelihood has deteriorated and their frustration increased. During the meetings, many citizens demanded to increase salaries and pensions per the inflation.

The Chairman of the State Great Hural G.Zandanshatar, stated that the economic situation in Mongolia has recovered. In 2020, the economic growth rate fell to 4.6 percent, but in 2022 it increased to 4.8 percent. In the first quarter of this year it was 7.6 percent, and it is expected to be 7-8 percent by the end of the year. The Parliament is following the policy of increasing salaries and pensions to bring this growth to the lives of the people, he said.

Also, as part of the legal reform to implement the 2019 Constitutional Amendment, the Law on the National Resources Fund will be approved, thus, making benefits from natural resources accessible to every citizen, the Chairman G.Zandanshatar said. He, also, stated that this Spring's Session of Parliament will focus on creating a legal framework to fight corruption, establish justice, and improve governance.

The issue of supporting domestic production is raised to reduce the price increase. In particular, due to the lack of support for the processing of animal raw materials, the economy is dependent only on mining. Citizens expressed their opinions about social justice and equal distribution of wealth. In the past 30 years, the national industry has been destroyed, and the unequal distribution of wealth has caused the people's frustration, and the government must accept the pressure and demands. There was a demand to revive the provisions of the 2019 constitutional amendment to create a national resource fund and make the benefits of natural resources accessible.

However, there is not much support for increasing the number of parliament members to 152 due to the amendments to the Constitution that are currently being discussed. However, majority of the citizens that came to the meeting has the opinion that it is right to increase the number of parliament members and change the electoral system.

In democratic political science, uninformed citizens react emotionally to issues and directly oppose them. But after getting information, comparing and consulting, they make a strong and thoughtful decision. One of the features of the meetings was that those who strongly opposed the changes to the constitution got the idea that it was right to increase the number of members after getting information. But there is a lot of controversy over the number 152. By order of the Chairman of the Parliament, the general session was adjourned, and the parliament members were given a 7-work day period to listen to all the people and hold a discussion. The discussion will end on the 16th of this month. So, all the Standing Committees will discuss what solutions are available based on the opinions of the people and scientifically based. Then a decision will be made at the general assembly. After that, the general meeting will be adjourned for a week and public discussions will be held. The results of the public consultation will be reported. Finally, there is a procedure to organize the third discussion. There is one thing emphasized. The most important principle of representative democracy is to have a constant live relationship with the people. The biggest mistake of our government in the past 3 years is that this live communication was cut off due to the pandemic. People are criticizing this. Also, because they did not listen to the people, they are not making decisions that are compatible with life. As a result of this, it became one of the reasons for people's frustration. The press, information and public relations department of the Parliament said that the discussion with the people about the amendment to the Constitution is restoring this broken "living" connection.