ABSTRACT
Mongolia's political system has received well-deserved attention as one of the most successful examples of democratization in the Asian region. Mongolia's Constitutional Court is a nine-member body with three members appointed by each of the President, the State Great Hural, and the Supreme Court. In the 1996 parliamentary elections, the National Democrat-Social Democrat coalition came to power for the first time. Sharavdorj's argument is that there is no jurisdiction for the Constitutional Court to consider the constitutionality of a constitutional amendment because of the supermajority required to pass an amendment. The story of the Mongolian Constitutional Court and its game of political hot potato with the President and Parliament illustrates the dangers for courts in new democracies when they cannot avoid overtly political issues. Mongolia's transition to democracy since 1990 has been stronger and more successful than any other central Asian state.
