Source: English.News.mn    Date: May 10, 2010

State Prosecutor General M.Altankhuyag has submitted his letter of resignation on health reasons, with one year left of his six-year term. The reputation of Mongolian law enforcing organizations took a beating in the aftermath of the July 1 incidents and ever since he assumed office, President Elbegdorj has been nudging Mr. Altankhuyag to go. He made the suggestion in his speech at the opening of the Spring session of Parliament also.

Now that he has submitted his resignation, interest shifts to the choice of a successor. Had this been a year ago, the obvious front runners would have been Mr. D.Dorligjav, now Head of the President’s Office, and Mrs. B.Delgermaa. Both are lawyers. Mrs. Delgermaa is known for her commitment to judicial reform and protection of human rights. They are still contenders, but now face challenge from Mr. A.Gansukh, Deputy Minister of Transport. He, too, was trained in law and defended the late Ts.Sukhbaatar when he was charged with taking bribe from people selected to go to South Korea for work.

Mr. Gansukh is also married to the sister of the wife of Prime Minister S.Batbold. Some politicians are behind him, but it is difficult to say if their support stems from their appreciation of his legal acumen or from his family links to the Prime Minister. Not that there is any guarantee, in present-day Mongolia, that someone apart from these three will not be the final choice, from some other family network or because of what is known as connections.