Tsakhiagiyn Elbegdorj

Elbegdorj Tsakhia (Цахиагийн Элбэгдорж) (born March 30, 1963 in Zereg, Hovd province, Mongolia) is the Prime Minister of Mongolia.

Elbegdorj received his BA in Military Journalism from the Military Political Institute in the former USSR. Later Elbegdorj earned his Master’s degree in Public Administration at the Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Elbegdorj (referred to by his first name according to Mongolian practice) is one of the founders and leaders of the Mongolian Democratic Union, the country’s first non-communist public organization. The Democratic Union led the peaceful revolution that ended seventy-five years of communist rule and created a free and open society in Mongolia.

On the morning of December 10, 1989, the first open pro-democracy demonstration met in front of the Youth Palace in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. As the crowd gathered, Elbegdorj Tsakhia, one of the organizers, took the microphone and publicly announced the establishment of a Mongolian democratic movement. His fellow Mongolians call him the “Golden Swallow of Democracy,” alluding to a bird that comes with spring sunshine after a long, harsh winter.

He founded Mongolia’s first independent newspaper, “Democracy,” and worked as its Editor-in-Chief in 1990. For his efforts to establish and protect free press, Elbegdorj was awarded the “Star of Press Freedom” by The Association of Mongolian Journalists in 2000.

Upon entering politics, Elbegdorj was elected to Parliament three times in 1990–2000. He was actively involved in the drafting and adoption of Mongolia’s new Constitution, one that guarantees human rights, democracy and a free market economy.

Elbegdorj, as the head of the major democratic party, co-led the Democratic Union Coalition to its historic victory in the 1996 parliamentary elections: the country’s first peaceful transition of power. He served as a Majority Leader in 1996–2000 and a Vice-Chairman of Parliament in 1996–1998.

While Chairman of the State Commission on Rehabilitation, Elbegdorj initiated and realized the state apology for the victims and families of people who were persecuted and killed during the communist period. He played a key role in the approval of the Rehabilitation Law, which provided rehabilitation, compensation, and recovery from the Stalinist purges and prohibited future violation of human rights. In addition, as a Founding President of Entrepreneurs Association, Elbegdorj helped to privatize livestock to herders and to regain their own property from socialist collectives in 1991.

In 1998, Elbegdorj became Mongolia’s youngest Prime Minister in recent history. During his term, he made crucial steps in solving the nation’s pressing political, economic, structural and social issues, and firmly continued its open foreign policy. For his efforts and contribution in the creation and strengthening of the democratic system in Mongolia, Elbegdorj was awarded the medal “Freedom.”

On August 20, 2004, Elbegdorj Tsakhia became a Prime Minister of Mongolia again in a grand coalition with the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, after a disputed even split voting for the two major political forces in the parliamentary elections. In his second term of the government, Elbegdorj declared a war on poverty and corruption. Opening the spring session of parliament April 8, 2005 Elbegdorj said in a speech "We will identify the causes and then bulldoze the corruption." In addition, Elbegdorj replaced Russian with English as a second official foreign language in Mongolia.