Elbegdorj Tsakhia, President of Mongolia.


Elbegdorj Tsakhia was elected the President of Mongolia on May 25, 2009 and sworn into office on June 18, 2009. He has served four terms in Parliament, holding positions of Vice Speaker and Majority Leader, and twice as Prime Minister.

President Elbegdorj ledthe peaceful democratic revolution in 1990 that ended the 70-year-long communist rule in the country. He has initiated and led the country’s major social and economic reforms since 1990, these includeeconomic liberalization policies, privatization of livestock, housing policies, reducing tax levels and eliminating bureaucracy and red-tape. Establishing justice, fighting corruption and promoting direct participatory democracy have always topped his political and social agenda. Inspired by Mongolia’s achievements, President of Kyrgyzstan has sent its lawmakers to Mongolia in April 2011 to study and learn from the young democracy.
Raised close to nature as a nomad, President Elbegdorj actively speaks outfor environmental conservation thus he has set forth environmental protection as one of his core presidential policies.

Ever since his first Premiership in 1998, President Elbegdorj has proclaimed a fight against both poverty and corruption. He has continued this fight till the present as President.

President Elbegdorj initiated Mongolia’s first comprehensive judicial reform. In April 2011, he convened a Judiciary Reform and Justice Forum in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The judicial reform encompasses legislative and institutional reforms, which guarantee political, economic, and legal security of the judiciary.In addition, the reform assures the openness and transparency of the court trials. The reform introduces laws to secureimpartiality of judges while establishing fair, just, merit-based selection of new judges. An important tenet of the judicial reform rests in promoting the role of citizens in judicial procedures as well. Therefore the reform will enable citizen representatives to participate in court trialsin order to promote the legitimacy of the legal system. Moreover the citizen representatives will better the confidence of the public in the courts while increasing their awareness and civic engagement in judiciary. President Elbegdorj also ordered that all judicial decisions must be updated on the Internet without any delay tokeep the public informed.

As the chair of the Community of Democracies, President Elbegdorj launched a number of initiatives that are vital to both mature and emerging democracies around the world.Some of the initiatives include Zero Tolerance to Corruption and Education for Democracy, which he declared during the 66th General Assembly of the United Nations. The Presidents of Finland, Nigeria, Romania, and the Prime Minister of Luxembourg have all shown support for President Elbegdorj’s initiative on Education for Democracy. Reaffirming this agenda, President Elbegdorj led discussions at the UN Alliance for Civilization Forum in December 2011 in Doha, Qatar under the title of, “The Role of Democratic Knowledge and Education in Understanding the Fundamental Basis of Democracy in Different Cultures.”

Aiming to further consolidate democracy in Asia, President Elbegdorj established the Asian Partnership for Democracy initiative within the confines of the Community of Democracies. When asked how Mongolia will impact democracies around globe, President Elbegdorj says: “We do not have anything to teach, but we have something to share [with the rest of Asia and the world]”. Furthermore, within the Community of Democracies President Elbegdorj has developed a special agenda on strengthening civil society and advocating women’s rights, especially their political rights as well.

MainHighlights fromthe Biography of President Elbegdorj:

- In 1981-1982, worked as a machinist at Erdenet Copper Mine, Erdenet, Mongolia.

- 1982-1983, served in the People’s Army and led a unit of soldiers from the Union of Youth. As the leader of the unit, he was fundamental at teaching his less privileged and uneducated soldiers the basics of reading and writing.

- 1983-1988, student at Lviv Military Academy of Land Forces, Ukraine. Learned about the glasnost and perestroika for the first time.

- 1988-1990, worked as a reporter for the Army Newspaper. Mostly wrote about how to ease tension and end conflict between old and new recruits in the Army and also how the Army could implement greater civil policies to benefit the public.

- 1989-1990, established and led the Mongolian Democratic Union, convened the first demonstrations for democracy and reforms.

- 1990, found Mongolia’s first independent newspaper, Democracy and worked as its first editor-in-chief while helping establish the country’s first independent TV station. Moreover, he co-initiated a law on freedom of press.

- 1990-1992, as a Member of Parliament, Elbegdorj co-drafted and co-adopted Mongolia’s new constitution which guaranteed human rights, freedom, democracy and market economy.

- 1991, found and led Mongolia's first Entrepreneurs Association that helped privatize livestock for free to their herders from the socialist collective farms. This livestock was the first private property for almost half of Mongolia’s entire population.

- Since 1992 till present President Elbegdorj has served as the Permanent Member of the Steering Council of “Young Leader” Foundation. Since 2003, President Elbegdorj is the Honorary President of the Mongolian Democratic Union, and the “Young Leader” Foundation.

- Since 1993 President Elbegdorj has served as the Member of the Board of Directors of the Academy of Political Education.

- 1996-1998, Vice Speaker of Parliament Elbegdorj chaired the National Committee on Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Purges; instituted a Day to Commemorate the Victims of Political Repressions, and brought the State to publicly apologize to the people of Mongolia for its political purges.

- 2005-2008,Elbegdorj led the Mongolian Democratic Party. During these years, President Elbegdorj initiated and implemented the 4 “10” Policies of the Democratic Party – 10% corporate income tax rate, 10% of individual income tax rate, 10% of VAT and 10% of employer’s share of the social insurance contributions.

- December 2009, President Elbegdorj established the Citizens’ Hall in the Government House that serves as a podium for every citizen to express his or her views of the government decisions before they are formally finalized.

- December, 2009, President Elbegdorj participated in the UN Climate Change Conference COP15 and became a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Climate Change.

- January 14, 2010, President Elbegdorj announced a moratorium on Capital Punishment that was applauded by the international community, particularly the United Nations, European Union and the countries that already abolished the death penalty. The Government of Mongolia issued a resolution to join the 2nd Optional Protocol to the Convention on Civil and Political Rights, thus further advancing the President’s initiative to fully abolish death penalty in Mongolia.

- May, 2010, President decreed to institute a Tree Planting Day in Mongolia and read lectures concerning environmental protection at the University of Tokyo in November 2010, and Lomonosov Moscow State University in June 2011.

- October 3, 2010, at ASEM8 Summit President Elbegdorj openly demanded Myanmar’s authority to free Noble Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and not long afterwards she was released.

- April, 2011, President hostedthe World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative’s roundtable in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in April 2011.

- June 2011, President Elbegdorj committed to form a Mongolian Alliance for Water Security, and by cooperating with the World Economic Forum’s Water Resources Group, he hosted “Water Secure Future in Mongolia” conference in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on June 3, 2011. This initiative made water issues the top agendas of the Government and civil society in order to shape and carry out the transformation of Mongolia’s water sector.

- July, 2011, Mongolia assumed the Chairmanship of the Community for Democracies. Upon receiving the Chairmanship, President Elbegdorj stated that, ”God [has] planted in every heart the desire to live free. Even if tyranny crushed that desire, that desire will rise again. In the mountains of Afghanistan, in the sandy homes of the Middle East, in the streets of Havana, in the jungles of Burma, in the steppes of Asia and Africa, there are many people who are still dreaming of greater freedom and peace. I hope that dream will come true and we will help them make it happen.”

The National Endowment for Democracy presented the New York Democracy Forum Presidential Medal to Elbegdorj Tsakhia on September 22, 2011.

International Organization “Hands Off Cain” awarded the “Abolitionist of the Year 2011” Prize to President Elbegdorj and bestowed the award on October 18, 2011.

Elbegdorj holds Master of Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F.Kennedy School of Government (2002) and Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from Land Forces Military Academy, Lviv, former USSR (1988), and served in the army.


President Elbegdorj and his spouse Bolormaa Khadjidsuren have 5 children and are foster parents of more than two dozens of orphans.

President Elbegdorj was born in Zereg Sum of Khovd province in Mongolia on March 8, 1963.

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