Nambaryn Enkhbayar

This is a Mongolian name. The given name is Enkhbayar, and the name Nambar is a patronymic, not a family name.

Nambaryn Enkhbayar ᠨᠠᠮᠪᠠᠷᠢᠨ ᠡᠨᠻᠪᠢᠠᠷ
23rd General Secretary of the Communist Party of Mongolia
In office 6 June 1997 – 22 November 2005
President	Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat (until 1997) Natsagiin Bagabandi (until 2005) Himself
Premier	Mendsaikhany Enkhsaikhan (until 1998) Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (until 1998) Janlavyn Narantsatsralt (until 1999) Rinchinnyamyn Amarjargal (until 2000) Himself (until 2004) Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj
Preceded by	Natsagiin Bagabandi
Succeeded by	Miyeegombyn Enkhbold
21st General Secretary of the Communist Party of Mongolia
In office 5 October 1996 – 7 February 1997
President	Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat
Premier	Mendsaikhany Enkhsaikhan
Preceded by	Bydragchaagiyn Dash-Yondon
Succeeded by	Natsagiin Bagabandi
President of Mongolia
In office 24 June 2005 – 18 June 2009
Prime Minister	Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj Miyeegombyn Enkhbold Sanjaagiin Bayar
General Secretary	Himself Miyeegombyn Enkhbold Sanjaagiin Bayar
Preceded by	Natsagiin Bagabandi
Succeeded by	Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj
Prime Minister of Mongolia
In office 26 July 2000 – 20 August 2004
President	Natsagiin Bagabandi
General Secretary	Himself
Preceded by	Rinchinnyamyn Amarjargal
Succeeded by	Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj
Personal details
Born	1 June 1958 (1958-06-01) (age 53) Ulan Bator, Mongolia
Political party	MPRP
Spouse(s)	Onongiin Tsolmon

Nambaryn Enkhbayar with Vladimir Putin in 2005.

Nambaryn Enkhbayar (Mongolian: Намбарын Энхбаяр, ᠨᠠᠮᠪᠠᠷᠢᠨ ᠡᠨᠻᠪᠢᠠᠷ; born 1 June 1958 in Ulan Bator) is a Mongolian political figure. He was the Prime Minister of Mongolia from 2000 to 2004, the Speaker of Parliament from 2004 to 2005, and the President of Mongolia from 2005 to 2009. He was defeated by opposition leader Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj in the 2009 presidential election, becoming the first President of Mongolia to fail to be re-elected to a second term.

Education and early life

Born on 1 June 1958 in Mongolia's capital city Ulan Bator, Nambaryn Enkhbayar graduated from secondary school in 1975 and went on to study at the Moscow Institute of Literature in 1980 where he earned an undergraduate degree in literature and language, and also attended English language courses at Leeds University in England in 1985 to 1986.^[1] It was in Britain that Enkhbayar encountered uncensored media for the first time and was particularly stunned by news coming out of the Soviet Union. Upon moving back to Ulan Bator, Enkhbayar worked for the Mongolian Writer's Union from 1980 to 1990 as a translator-editor, a secretary general and a vice president and he translated Buddhist teachings into Mongolian, and finally reached the top post at the Association of Mongolian Writers by 1990, the same year in which the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party relinquished control and multiparty elections were held that July for the first time in Mongolian history. Enkhbayar, a Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party(MPRP) member, became part of the new political order almost immediately, serving as a vice chair of a government arts committee for the first two years of democratic rule.

Political career

Enkhbayar was elected as a member of the State Great Khural (the Mongolian parliament) in 1992 and served as Minister of Culture from 1992 to 1996. He left the latter post when the MPRP lost the 1996 general election, ending its run as the longest ruling political party in the world. In 1997, he became the leader of the opposition post-communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party with backing of old leaders of the party such as Gombosuren and Dash-Yondon. He led his party to victory in 2000 elections, in a landslide election, winning 72 out of 76 seats. On 26 July 2000, he was unanimously elected as the prime minister in the Parliament. He is credited with the revitalization of his party.^{[citation needed]} Now in control of the parliament again, Enkhbayar began an ambitious project to improve the infrastructure of his country^{[citation needed]} and encourage foreign investment^{[citation needed]}. These included the new Millennium Road^{[citation needed]}, the first to traverse Mongolia's 600,000-square-mile (1,600,000 km²) territory from east to west^{[citation needed]}, and an agreement with a Canadian group Ivanhoe Mines led by "Toxic Bob" Robert Friedland to begin gold mining. His party lost almost half of its seats in the 2004 election to the Motherland Democratic Coalition, and in August 2004, he entered a coalition with opposition parties and became the Speaker of Parliament.

While serving as Prime Minister, without disclosing the details to the Mongolian public, Enkhbayar suddenly settled Mongolia's controversial debt to the former Soviet Union.^{[citation needed]}

He entered the race for president in the spring of 2005, and campaigned by helicopter to cover the sparsely populated country, where even permanent settlements are often spaced miles away from one another. Later that year, he welcomed U.S. President George W. Bush for an official visit, the first one ever of a sitting U.S. president to the country. In the 22 May 2005 presidential election, Enkhbayar was elected to succeed Natsagiin Bagabandi with 53.4 percent of the vote. His main rival, Mendsaikhany Enkhsaikhan of the Mongolian Democratic Party, collected 20 percent of the vote.

2008 state of emergency

After the 2008 post-election riots and the imposition of a four-day state of emergency by Enkhbayar, he and the MPRP came under heavy criticism from the relatives of those killed during the riots,^[2] and from parts of the opposition. Most of this criticism was related to police brutality: five people had been killed in the riots, and the deaths of four of these people by gunshot wounds raised concerns over unnecessary and excessive police violence and later led to charges of murder against involved policemen.^[3] Another point of contention was the state of emergency itself, most notably the shutdown of all non-state run TV stations.^[4]

On the other hand, Erdeniin Bat-Üül, a prominent DP figure, in an interview on July 4 called the imposition of a state of emergency "the right thing to do at the time". He criticized Enkhbayar for showing poor leadership at a time when "the city was burning".^[5]

2009 Presidential elections defeat

In the 2009 presidential election, Enkhbayar was narrowly defeated by Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj.

References

1. ^ "Nambaryn Enkhbayar President of Mongolia". Columbia University World Leaders Forum. http://www.worldleaders.columbia.edu/participants/nambaryn-enkhbayar. Retrieved August 22, 2009. 
2. ^ UBPost: Families of Riot Victims Blame the Government, July 24th, 2008
3. ^ Amnesty International: Are the Mongolian authorities getting away with murder?
4. ^ "They have shown what they will do if citizens stand up, says Elbegdorj". news.mn, cached by google from http://en.news.mn/news/649 as it appeared on 24 Feb 2010 16:40:25 GMT. July 3, 2008. http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:_VIZTf-QavAJ:en.news.mn/news/649+http://en.news.mn/news/649&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk. Retrieved March 29, 2010. 
5. ^ "Bat-Uul talks about failure of leadership". news.mn, cached by google from http://en.news.mn/news/658 as it appeared on 24 Feb 2010 16:40:25 GMT. July 4, 2008. http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:_VIZTf-QavAJ:en.news.mn/news/658+http://en.news.mn/news/658&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk. Retrieved March 29, 2010. 

External links

• President of Mongolia Official site

Party political offices
Preceded by Bydragchaagiyn Dash-Yondon	General Secretary of the Communist Party of Mongolia 1996–1997	Succeeded by Natsagiin Bagabandi
Preceded by Natsagiin Bagabandi	General Secretary of the Communist Party of Mongolia 1997–2005	Succeeded by Miyeegombyn Enkhbold
Political offices
Preceded by Rinchinnyamyn Amarjargal	Prime Minister of Mongolia 2000–2004	Succeeded by Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj
Preceded by Natsagiin Bagabandi	President of Mongolia 2005–2009	Succeeded by Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj

Persondata
Name	Nambaryn Enkhbayar
Alternative names	Enkhbayar; Намбарын Энхбаяр (mongolian)
Short description	Prime Minister of Mongolia from 26 July 2000 to 20 August 2004 and President of Mongolia from 24 June 2005 to the present.
Date of birth	1958-06-01
Place of birth	Mongolia
Date of death
Place of death