National Election

This upcoming Sunday there will be a National Parliamentary Election here in Mongolia. Even with several drawings and open dictionaries between my host family and me I still haven’t gotten a grasp on exactly what is happening, but I do know a few things. First of all there are elections every four years and it seems like every seat is up for grabs. Also, there are several parties in the country, but the two main parties are the Revolutionary Party and the Democratic Party. Currently the Revolutionary Party (related somehow to the old Communist Party) has the majority in the Parliament, but people are saying the Democratic Party might take the majority in this election. Furthermore, here in our aimag (or state) of Selenge there are three seats up for grabs. We have a lot of magazines and pamphlets in the house from both parties, which I have been flipping through to see the pictures, and I find them very fascinating. One thing in particular that fascinates me is that most politicians, in ads, on television and in print media, include pictures of themselves when they were children or babies. It was kind of crazy at first, but now it is just normal to see a picture of one of their politicians and then randomly see a picture of them a year or two old. Maybe I’ll get a better grasp on that, as well as more details about the election, this upcoming week. When I do, I’ll get back to you. Maybe I’ll even take a picture of it so you can see for yourself! How’s that sound?