Under a 2017 law requiring a Deliberative Poll before Parliament considers constitutional amendments, 669 randomly sampled Mongolians deliberated for a weekend in Ulaanbaatar on proposed changes. Support for a second chamber collapsed; the 2019 amendment dropped it but adopted a single presidential term the poll had cooled on.
Mongolia's 1992 constitution, adopted after the end of one-party rule, created a semi-presidential system with a directly elected president and a unicameral parliament, the State Great Khural. By the 2010s frequent changes of government, disputes between president and prime minister, and concern about corruption had produced repeated proposals for constitutional reform. Amending the constitution required a three-quarters majority in Parliament or a referendum.
In 2015 the capital, Ulaanbaatar, ran a city-wide Deliberative Poll with technical support from Stanford University's Center for Deliberative Democracy (now the Deliberative Democracy Lab). Encouraged by that experience, and after contacts between the Stanford political scientist James Fishkin and the MP Gombojav Zandanshatar, Parliament in 2017 passed a Law on Deliberative Polling. The OECD describes it as defining the method and its principles, the composition of an advisory committee, the procedure, and funding, and requiring a Deliberative Poll before Parliament can consider constitutional amendments, as well as on some local development fund and urban planning projects; residents can also petition for one at capital and district level.
The law provides for state funding of Deliberative Polls; the sources reviewed for this entry do not give the cost of the 2017 poll. Its product was a public good of a specific kind: a measured comparison between what a representative sample thought before and after informed discussion, published for legislators and the public.
The results cut against several proposals backed by the major parties. Support for creating a two-chamber parliament fell from 61% to 30%; agreement that a second chamber would provide effective oversight fell from 70% to 38%, while agreement that both chambers would be controlled by the same parties rose from 43% to 59%. Support for a single six-year presidential term fell from 61.5% to 41%. Indirect election of the president found little support before or after. Support for giving the prime minister authority to appoint and dismiss cabinet members rose from 57% to 73%, and nine of the ten highest-rated proposals after deliberation concerned transparency, accountability and protections for the civil service and judiciary.
The process was contested. The Mongolian constitutional scholar Munkhsaikhan Odonkhuu published a critique, which Fishkin and Zandanshatar rebutted; and the political context shifted quickly: the ruling party's candidate lost the July 2017 presidential election and the prime minister later lost a no-confidence vote, delaying reform.
The advisory group reported to Parliament, and the subsequent draft included the prime minister's power over the cabinet and civil service accountability provisions while excluding indirect presidential election and a second chamber. Parliament eventually amended the constitution by a two-thirds vote on 14 November 2019. The amendment strengthened the prime minister, limited the president to a single six-year term — a change that had lost support in the poll — and shifted judicial appointments. Parliament's chairman, Zandanshatar, later wrote that the poll was a critical part of the consultation and that most major changes traced back to issues citizens had discussed.
A second national Deliberative Poll, with nearly 800 participants, met in February 2023; its participants strongly supported expanding Parliament and a mixed electoral system, and the 2023 amendment raised the number of seats from 76 to 126.
669 participants deliberated on 29–30 April 2017. Support for a second chamber fell from 61% to 30% and the idea was dropped; the November 2019 amendment strengthened the prime minister but also adopted a single six-year presidential term, whose support had fallen to 41%.
A one-weekend legally required consultation. Its results reached Parliament through an advisory group; the eventual 2019 amendment followed some findings and not others. The law remains in force and was used again for a 2023 national poll.
Of 1,568 people sampled by the National Statistical Office, 1,515 completed an initial interview, 785 were invited and 669 deliberated in Ulaanbaatar on 29–30 April 2017. Support for a two-chamber parliament fell from 61% to 30% and for a single six-year presidential term from 61.5% to 41%.[1][2]
Mongolia's 2017 Law on Deliberative Polling requires a Deliberative Poll before Parliament considers constitutional amendments and lets residents petition for one at capital-city and district level.[1]
How far the poll shaped the 2019 amendment is disputed: Parliament's chairman credited it with a key role, but the amendment adopted a single six-year presidential term whose support had fallen after deliberation.[1][2][3]