The Democratic Union Coalition () was a coalition of political parties in Mongolia. Its primary constituents were the Mongolian National Democratic Party (MNDP) and the Mongolian Social Democratic Party (MSDP).
Its core policies were the implementation of political and economic reforms in Mongolia's post-communist period. The coalition chairman was Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj from 1996 to 2000. The DUC won a landslide victory in the 1996 parliamentary election, forming the first fully non-MPRP cabinet with a supermajority of 50 seats in the State Great Khural. The DUC's election victory is widely attributed to its electoral strategy, based on the 1994 Contract with America, and to American support for Mongolia's democratization since the 1990s.
After four years of political instability and economic stagnation, the DUC faced a significant defeat in the 2000 parliamentary election, winning only a single parliamentary seat. It soon became the foundation of the current Democratic Party of Mongolia. Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj was elected as the chairman of the Democratic Union and later the next chairman of the MNDP in April. and the International Republican Institute (IRI), an American nonprofit organization mostly aligned with the Republican Party in the United States. According to the Washington Post, the American assistance began in late 1991.
The IRI dispatched several staff members to Mongolia and convinced opposition parties, students, activists, nongovernmental organizations, intellectuals, and businessmen to form a united coalition after the 1992 election. The organization trained candidates and supporters from the DUC to persuade voters with relevant messages, grass-roots party development, and recruitment. For the first time since the 1921 revolution, the MPRP had not been in power, and for the first time since the 1990 Democratic Revolution, a major electoral victory for the pro-democracy opposition was achieved. Of the 50 seats, 34 belonged to the MNDP, 13 to the MSDP, and 3 to non-party candidates allied with the coalition. All 50 elected members of parliament were trained by the IRI, according to government leaders.|color1=
Enkhsaikhan cabinet (1996–1998)
Former member of parliament and manager of the elections campaign of the Democratic Union, Mendsaikhany Enkhsaikhan (MSDP), became the 18th Prime Minister of Mongolia on 18 July 1996. Enkhsaikhan's term mainly focused on hastening economic reforms, privatization, and social reforms promised by the Contract with the Mongolian Voter.
1997 presidential election
In the 1997 presidential election, incumbent president and DUC candidate, Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat, was defeated by the MPRP candidate and former chairman of the State Great Khural, Natsagiin Bagabandi, with around 30 percent vote difference. Bagabandi's election was described as a protest vote against the DUC government's rapid economic reforms. According to the 1992 Constitution, the President holds a limited amount of powers—in principle, the power to veto—while most political power rests in the legislative branch, the State Great Khural. The DUC's 50-seat majority, though substantial, was still one vote short of the margin needed to override presidential vetoes.
Political tensions intensified in early 1998, when a series of parliamentary maneuvers by the MPRP and the DUC occurred.
On 27 March 1998, the General Council of the MNDP voted in favor of Enkhsaikhan's resignation. MNDP chairman Elbegdorj suggested that the low approval of the current cabinet stemmed from a lack of coordination between the government and parliament. Most of the MPs also argued the party chairman should assume the role of premiership.
In April 1998, majority of the MNDP and MSDP lawmakers turned against Enkhsaikhan on the grounds of slow social reforms and the breakdown of relations between the legislative and executive branches. Enkhsaikhan was forced to resign on 17 April 1998
One of his most significant decisions was to collect taxes from then-biggest taxpayer and only significant income contributor, the copper ore mining and processing Erdenet Mining Corporation (EMC), a joint stock company owned by the governments of Mongolia and the Russian Federation (previously the Soviet Union). EMC hadn't paid due tax, income, and royalty to Mongolia's government between 1997 and 1998.
At the end of the 1998 political turmoil, Janlavyn Narantsatsralt, a candidate on President Bagabandi's list of acceptable nominees, was selected by the DUC as a candidate for prime minister. The vote of no confidence appeared to be based more on personal political agendas than policy stances. The Mongolian Green Party, an initial DUC member party, left the coalition to form an alliance with the newly founded Civil Will Party. The MSDP exited the coalition in mid-2000 to field its own candidates for the election.
The MPRP won an overwhelming supermajority of 72 seats in the State Great Khural, The former constituents of the coalition decided to merge and found a new opposition party, a decision primarily driven by the MDP. a date commemorating 1206, when the Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan.