Nambaryn Enkhbayar

Nambaryn Enkhbayar
Намбарын Энхбаяр
Enkhbayar in 2009
President of Mongolia
In office 24 June 2005 – 18 June 2009
Prime Minister	Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj Miyeegombyn Enkhbold Sanjiin Bayar
Preceded by	Natsagiin Bagabandi
Succeeded by	Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj
Prime Minister of Mongolia
In office 26 July 2000 – 20 August 2004
President	Natsagiin Bagabandi
Preceded by	Rinchinnyamyn Amarjargal
Succeeded by	Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj
Chairman of the State Great Khural
In office August 2004 – June 2005
Preceded by	Sanjbegziin Tömör-Ochir
Succeeded by	Tsendiin Nyamdorj
Chairman of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party
In office 6 June 1997 – 22 November 2005
Preceded by	Natsagiin Bagabandi
Succeeded by	Miyeegombyn Enkhbold
General Secretary of the Mongolian People's Party
In office 5 October 1996 – 7 February 1997
Preceded by	Büdragchaagiin Dash-Yondon
Succeeded by	Natsagiin Bagabandi
Personal details
Born	(1958-06-01) 1 June 1958 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Party	Mongolian People's Party (1985–2010), (2021–present)
Other political affiliations	Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (2010–2021)
Spouse	Onongiin Tsolmon
Children	4, including Batshugar Enkhbayar
Alma mater	Maxim Gorky Literature Institute

Nambaryn Enkhbayar (Mongolian: Намбарын Энхбаяр; born 1 June 1958) is a Mongolian politician who served as the prime minister of Mongolia from 2000 to 2004, as the chairman of the State Great Khural from 2004 to 2005, and as the third president of Mongolia from 2005 to 2009. He is the first person to have held all three top positions in the Mongolian government. Enkhbayar was also the chairman of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (now Mongolian People's Party) from 1997 to 2005 and the head of the splinter party with the same name, the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, from 2010 to 2021.^[1] Due to his corruption scandal, he is regarded by the public media as the "godfather" of corruption in Mongolian politics.^[2][3]

His eldest son, Enkhbayaryn Batshugar, is a member of the State Great Khural from the Mongolian People's Party.

Nambaryn Enkhbayar was born on 1 June 1958 in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of the Mongolian People's Republic. He graduated from the 23rd Secondary School in Ulaanbaatar in 1975, during which he learned the Tibetan language. He later earned an undergraduate degree in literature and language studies from the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union, in 1980.^[4]

He studied an English language and literature course^[5] at Leeds University in the United Kingdom between 1985 and 1986.^[6] As a young man, he translated the works of the Mongolian poet Mend-Ooyo Gombojav into English.^[7] Between 1980 and 1990, Enkhbayar was a translator, editor, head of department, and executive secretary of the Union of Mongolian Writers.^[4]

In 1985, Enkhbayar became a member of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP). As member of the MPRP, he was first elected to the State Great Khural, the parliament of Mongolia, in the 1992 parliamentary election. In 1992, Mongolia voted to retain the former communist MPRP during its first venture into democratic elections, and Enkhbayar was appointed to serve as the country's Minister of Culture^[4] for the cabinet of Puntsagiin Jasrai. He held that post until 1996, when the opposition Democratic Union Coalition ousted the MPRP in the parliamentary elections that year.

In 1996, Enkhbayar became the secretary general of the MPRP. He soon succeeded the seat of president-elect Natsagiin Bagabandi, after running in a by-election at the 21st constituency in Zavkhan Province.^[8] The next year, in 1997, he became the leader of the opposition MPRP parliamentary caucus and was elected the chairman of the MPRP.^[9]

In 1999, the country was hit by one of its infamous zud spells, when summer drought and cold weather blizzards resulted in severe food shortages and loss of thousands of livestock. The government responded poorly to the disaster and the MPRP received an unexpected boost from the public response to the climatological disaster.^[10] In the 2000 parliamentary elections, the MPRP won 72 out of 76 seats.^[11] With the MPRP controlling the parliament, Enkhbayar became the country's prime minister. He initiated an ambitious Millennium Road (Мянганы зам) project to connect Mongolian territory from east to west.^[4] During Enkhbayar's time as prime minister, he successfully eliminated Mongolia's debt to the former Soviet Union; this was the first time since the 1920s that Mongolia did not owe debt to its northern neighbor.^[12] The debt was controversial due to Mongolia being a raw material supplier to the Soviet Union,^[13] pricing the materials almost free for former USSR. International exposure of Mongolia's vast mineral resources led to the economy experiencing 10% real GDP growth in 2004.^[14] He supported some privatization.^[15]

In the 2004 parliamentary election, the MPRP lost its majority to opposition Motherland Democratic Coalition, a coalition between the Democratic Party and the Motherland Party. Due to the election result, neither the coalition or the MPRP had the enough majority to form a government. A grand coalition government was formed between the two parties and Enkhbayar became the chairman of the State Great Khural, serving in this post from August 2004 to 2005.^[4] His speakership lasted for less than a year until his candidacy for the upcoming presidential race in 2005.

He won the 2005 presidential election with 54% of the ballot, slightly above the majority vote requirement of 50% to prevent a run-off. Later in June 2005, Enkhbayar became the third President of Mongolia.

During his tenure, he welcomed the U.S. President George W. Bush during his official visit to Mongolia, the first-ever visit of a sitting U.S president to the country.^[16] Mongolia received US$285 million aid from the United States' Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) which United States President George W. Bush signed with Enkhbayar in 2007.^[17]

In the 2009 presidential election, incumbent president Enkhbayar was defeated by Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj of the rival Democratic Party. Elbegdorj won 51.21% of total votes while Enkhbayar got 47.41%.^[18][19]

In 2010, Enkhbayar established a political party and named it the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party. The party received approval to use the previous name of the Mongolian People's Party (MPP) from the Supreme Court of Mongolia on 26 June 2011.^[20] Enkhbayar himself became the first and only chairman of his party.^[21] The MPRP, for much of its decade-long existence, was the primary third-party force and key anti-establishment party up until 2021, when the party decided to merge back into the MPP during its hundred year anniversary.

The Independent Authority Against Corruption (IAAC) arrested Enkhbayar at the dawn of 13 April 2012. The IAAC stated that it arrested Enkhbayar for questioning in a graft case involving the illegal privatization of a government-owned hotel because he never showed up for questioning.^[22]

Over 1000 members of his party, the MPRP, and Enkhbayar's supporters participated in party's organized demonstration demanding Enkhbayar's release on the same day of his arrest.^[23] On 4 May 2012, Enkhbayar announced a dry hunger strike demanding his release.^[24] He lost around 12 kilograms in 16 days.^[25] Amnesty International issued a statement demanding the Mongolian authority to respect human rights of Enkhbayar compatible to international standards.^[26] United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a phone call to then-President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj expressing concern over Enkhbayar's health.^[24] Enkhbayar was released on bail on 14 May 2012. United States Senator Dianne Feinstein expressed to the U.S.Senate her pleasure for Enkhbayar's release on bail and said "For any democracy, due process and the rule of law are essential."^[27]

On 8 June 2012, the General Election Commission (GEC) refused to register Enkhbayar as a candidate for the 2012 parliamentary elections in the MPRP party list listed as number one. It stated that the official documents sent from the Prosecutor's Office and Sükhbaatar District Court of Ulaanbaatar required the rejection of Enkhbayar's application pending the case.^[28] However, Enkhbayar and his lawyers argue that the incumbent president, Elbegdorj, who took office in 2009, engineered the corruption case to keep him from running in the coming elections. They claim that the court gave them insufficient time to review the prosecutors' evidence and witness statements. The election authorities' denial of Enkhbayar's candidacy on 6 June, they say, violates his constitutional right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. According to a US-based independent trial observer, the five charges leveled against Enkhbayar seem overblown and unsubstantiated. One accuses him of misappropriating TV equipment that was intended for a Buddhist monastery. Another alleges that he illegally shipped eight copies of his autobiography to South Korea on a government plane.^[29]

On 2 August 2012, after a three-day trial, Sukhbaatar District Court convicted Enkhbayar of corruption and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, three of which was pardoned and then gave four years prison term and fined with over MNT 1.7 billion for misusing state properties and government power.^[30][31] Enkhbayar's sentence was reduced to two and a half year prison term without the fine by the Supreme Court, the highest court in Mongolia.^[32]

On 1 August 2013, President of Mongolia Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj issued a decree to pardon Enkhbayar thus releasing him from the rest of his jail term effective on the decree date.^[33][34]

• Chairman of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (2010–2021)
• President of Mongolia (2005–2009)
• Chairman of the State Great Khural (2004–2005)
• Prime Minister of Mongolia (2000–2004)
• Chairman of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (1997–2005)
• General Secretary of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (1996–1997)
• Minister of Culture (1992–1996)
• Member of the State Great Khural (1992–1996; 1997–2000; 2000–2004; 2004–2005)

He has been married to Onongiin Tsolmon since 1987, and they have four children.^[4] His eldest son, Enkhbayaryn Batshugar, is a banker and has been an MPP member of the State Great Khural since 2021.

Enkhbayar climbed the highest peak in Mongolia, Khüiten Peak, with mountaineers of the Mongolian Mountaineering Federation and the Nepal Mountaineering Association on 23 June 2011.^[35]

Enkhbayar is a follower of Tibetan Buddhism. He translated several Buddhist texts into Mongolian.^[36]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nambaryn Enkhbayar.