MP Chimed Saikhanbileg is elected Mongolia’s 28th Prime Minister,
quickly forms historic all-party grand coalition in parliament   

Chimed Saikhanbileg, MP, was elected Mongolia’s 28th Prime Minister on November 21 by the State Great Khural and immediately re-iterated his invitation to every party with seats in parliament to join an all-party grand coalition to deal with the nation’s critical economic problems. The opposition Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) agreed on November 28, reversing their prior decision, to join the Democratic Party’s existing alliance with the “Justice Coalition” (Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party and the Mongolian National Democratic Party). Prime Minister Saikhanbileg is expected to nominate a new cabinet by the December 5 deadline.

Saikhanbileg, nominated by the Democratic Party’s National Consultative Conference, has been a Member of Parliament for almost 10 years, 1996-2000 and 2008-2014. During 2008-2012, he was the Democratic Party’s floor leader in parliament. He served as Cabinet Minister and head of the Cabinet Secretariat in the previous government of Prime Minister N. Altankhuyag, who was dismissed by vote of parliament on November 5. During 1998-99, he was Minister of Education (then called the “Ministry of Enlightenment”), the youngest cabinet minister in Mongolian history. He subsequently served as the Chairman of Mongolia’s Information, Communication and Technology Agency. Saikhanbileg earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Humanities (Moscow), a law degree from the National University of Mongolia and a Master of Law degree from George Washington University (Washington, DC).