Sanjaasürengiin Oyuun

Sanjaasürengiin Oyuun ( _mn. Санжаасүрэнгийн Оюун), also transcribed S. Oyun, is a prominent Mongolian politician. She is one the founders of the Civic Will Party, member of the State Great Khural since 1998, and serves as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the current cabinet.

Biography

Oyuun was born in Ulaanbaatar in 1964. In 1987 she finished her studies in geochemistry at the Charles University of Prague. From 1988 to 1990 she worked as geologist in the Selenge and Khentii aimags, and later for the UNDP. In 1996 she earned a doctorate in geology from the University of Cambridge, and then began to work for Rio Tinto.

After the murder of her brother S. Zorig in November 1998, she entered politics, and won the by-election in her brother's constituency in Dornod, the birthplace of their father Sanjaasüren. In March 2000, she and some other Democratic Party parlamentarians founded the Civic Will Party ( _mn. Иргэний Зориг Нам, "Irgenii Zorig Nam"). In December 2007, she became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the coalition government led by Prime Minister Sanjaagiin Bayar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party.

In the 2008 election, she was the only candidate of her party to win a seat in parliament. After the post-election riots, she called for reconsideration of proportional representation. A draft proposal to change to proportional representation had been introduced towards the end of last year, but the proposal was rejected. [ [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-2600556,prtpage-1.cms "Mongolian Parliament approves new coalition government"] , IST, AFP ("Times of India"), December 6, 2007.] [ [http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20080704-74733.html "Mongolia foreign minister calls for electoral reform"] ]

Family background

Oyuun's mother, Dorjpalam, is famous her role as doctor in a well-known Mongolian movie. Dorjpalam's father was the Russian geographer and scientist Simukov, who fell victim to Mongolia's political purges of the 1930s. Oyuun is married with two children. Hobbies include chess, mountaineering, karate (she holds a black belt) and philately.

References

* [http://www.mongolei.de/news/2008feb4.htm www.mongolei.de: Interview (in German)]
* [http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~corff/im/WhoIsWho/WhoIsWho-20040703-16.html#ss16.14 Infosystem Mongolei: Oyuun, Sanjaasürängiïn (in German)]
* [http://www.izn.mn/?page_id=30 Иргэний Зориг Нам: Намын удирдлага (in Mongolian)]