State Palace, Ulaanbaatar

16/6/2025

Following the elections in 2024, which saw the Civil-Will Green Party and Green Party gain a small foothold and see the ruling MPP see small setbacks, the time has come for presidential elections to be held in June, one year after the legislative elections. Widely unpopular president Khaltmaagiin Battulga, who narrowly won reelection in 2021, was not expected to either win or run again in 2025. Indeed, Battulga opted to not run in 2025, and the Democratic Party nominated MP Erdene Sodnomzundui to run as president. The Mongolian People's Party, seeing an opportunity to hold power over both the executive and legislative branch, nominated Mayor of Ulaanbaatar and former MP Dolgorsürengiin Sumyaabazar. However, a several weeks prior to the election, the Civic-Will Green party came to Sodnomzundui and the Democratic Party with an offer: form a coalition government; Sanjaasürengiin Oyuun (MP and chair of the Civic-Will Green Party) would be mutually endorsed by both parties, and in exchange, all democratic party candidates would be endorsed by CW-Green. As the green movement in Mongolia, primarily in Ulaanbaatar began to take off, combined with the support for the Democratic Party in the rural areas, it was expected that they would at least make a good showing. Time would only tell what the outcome would be.

In the first round of voting, as expected, the MPP candidate Dolgorsürengiin Sumyaabazar and CW-Green/Democratic Candidate Sanjaasürengiin Oyuun won, and would move onto the second round of voting. The results were as follows:

Sanjaasürengiin Oyuun has been narrowly elected as part of the coalition ticket, propelling her to the presidency, making her Mongolia's first female president, and first president outside of the two largest parties to be elected since 1993. Oyuun looks forward to the continuation of a peaceful foreign policy and dialogue with Mongolia's two neighbors, as well as the United States, commonly known as Mongolia's "third neighbor".