The transitional government of Taragai has rejected terms from rebels backing a would-be monarch to negotiate an end to her rebellion.
The rebels backing Ebegei Qoriqacha, self-declared Khatun of Taragai, responded to the transitional government’s offer to negotiate with her by sending a series of terms on February 12th. The proposal outlined the formation of a new government after Taragai’s scheduled elections on February 28th. While the newly elected President and State Great Khural would be allowed to take their offices, Ebegei would be installed as the Khatun of the entire country. Under the rebels’ terms, the decisions of the President and State Great Khural would be subject to the Khatun’s approval. The Khatun would also have the power to draft legislation and send it to the State Great Khural for consideration.
Both groups participating in the current transitional government dismissed the rebels’ terms out of hand. Argasun Qorchi, interim leader of Taragai, called the rebels’ proposal “an ultimatum disguised as a peace plan”. Qorchi went on to state that his party, the incumbent Taragaian People’s Revolutionary Party (TPRP), “would rather fight for a thousand years than agree to allow the restoration of a monarch over this country.”
Khadagan Daldurkhan, leader of the opposition Democratic Front of Taragai, was also strongly opposed to the rebels’ proposal. “The idea that we should just let Ebegei Qoriqacha swoop in here and take over, after all of our fighting to end oppression here, is a slap in the face to all of us. Thousands of Taragaians stood out in the freezing cold for weeks in protest. We were beaten, harassed and threatened. Many of us bled and even died for this moment. If Ebegai Qoriqacha thinks after all that, we will give up our chance at democracy and just exchange one tyranny for another, I have one thing to say to her: come to Bor-Öndör and see if we will,” he told a cheering and defiant crowd in the capital’s Tebengri Square.
The rebels’ response to the transitional government’s rejection of their terms was short and direct. “If those currently holding power in Bor-Öndör will not accept our Khatun’s great offer of peace, they will be brought to heel by her equally great power of force,” a spokesperson for the rebels told DTNS.
Daldurkhan, DFT lead Qorchi and TPRP in election race
With less than two weeks remaining before Taragai holds elections, the opposition has maintained a small but comfortable lead in most polls.
In an average of polls taken between February 9th and 14th, DFT presidential candidate Khadagan Daldurkhan leads by about six points over his opponent, Argasun Qorchi of the TPRP. The DFT is also likely headed to a slight majority in the Great State Khural.
“Older Taragaians and those still loyal to the previous communist regime are backing Qorchi and the TPRP. However, younger Taragaians and those who had been opposed to the old regime are showing very strong support for Daldurkhan and the DFT,” Dorjdagva Enkhjavkhlan, a political reporter with Taragai’s TV5 News, told DTNS. “Qorchi and the TPRP are also having a hard time overcoming their association with the old regime that so many Taragaians opposed. In addition, Qorchi is having difficulty keeping even some of his own party engaged. The more hard-line TPRP ideologues are still unhappy at Qorchi forcing his predecessor, Jirghogadai Tömörbataar, out of power. They also dislike that Qorchi made a compromise with the pro-democracy protesters. As a result, a significant portion of TPRP voters may just stay home on election day and not vote at all. This is making a Daldurkhan win seem increasingly likely,” Enkhjavkhlan said.
