Parliament

For one of our many field trips sponsored by the National University of Mongolia we got to tour the Parliament building, one of the center pieces of Sukhbaatar Square. This year is an election year, so on June 29th, 76 new Parliament members will be elected. Once those are determined, the leader of the party that holds the majority is appointed Prime Minister. The Presidential election is not until next summer, so his position is safe for now. The main parties are the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and the Democratic Party. There are also a large number of smaller parties such as the Green Party (whoo hoo!), the Motherland Party, Nazi Party, and other individuals unaffiliated with a party. Traditionally, the MPRP has held the majority, but this year it is forcasted to be a very tight race. As the date gets closer, more campaign cars roll by and more posters go up.

On our way to see the Parliament building there were a couple of road blocks:

1. Tim, because he is traveling to India after this, needs an Indian visa. To get a visa you need to send your passport away but to get into the Parliament building you also need you passport. Unfortunately, he did not have time to make photocopies before he left either. Despite all this, he did get through the first round of security checks but...

2. Because Parliament is a fancy government building, you need to dress in proper attire to be allowed in. Tim had a dress shirt and tie, but no jacket and cargo khaki pants. This is apparently not permissible. Also, Allie had hurt her ankle and knee while running in the morning, so was wearing her Merrel hiking boots for maximum support. This apparently was not acceptable either. Allies situation was remedied by Allison, who had seen the building before, giving Allie her dress shoes and sacrificing herself. But Tim, who had no alternative clothes had to turn back with Allison. In addition, there was another factor that exacerbated this situation...

3. We are at the height of the rainy season and it was pouring rain. This is good for the drought conditions, but there is no drainage system in UB, which makes huge puddles (really, mini lakes) all throughout the city.

Once we (Melissa, Allie, Yelena, Evan, and Me) finally got in, we started our tour complete with guide and security guard escort. We saw various official looking offices, and people in business suits. There was some cool art depicting the traditional Mongolian lifestyle. We saw Mongolian white horse hair flags built on a foundation made from soil from each of the different ethic groups. We got a group picture in front of the Chinggis Khaan bust and saw the hall full of portraits of past Prime Ministers. Eventually, we entered the hall where Parliament convenes to make all the important decisions.

One of my favorite parts was seeing the large ger located in the middle of the building. This is where all the diplomats and foreign visitors stay when the visit Mongolia. None other than President George W. Bush stayed there when he came to Mongolia in November, 2005.

All in all it was a good trip. It should be excited to find out the outcome of the elections!

Love, Emily