Dharamshala: Penpa Tsering, the former speaker of Tibet’s parliament in exile, has been elected as the new president of the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile.
Chief election commissioner Wangdu Tsering Pesur on Friday in a virtual briefing announced the results of the President and the 45 member Parliament. He declared Penpa Tsering winner after he secured 34324 votes whereas Kalsang Dorjee Aukatsang his closest rival got 28907 votes.
More than 83,000 Tibetans living in 26 countries around the world went to the polls on April 11 to cast their ballots in the third and final round of voting for Sikyong (President).
Lobsang Sangay, a Harvard-trained scholar of law, who has served two consecutive five-year terms as Sikyong, is to demit office.
Today’s election results will also seat 45 members of the exile Tibetan parliament for its 17th session, with 10 candidates representing each of Tibet’s three traditional provinces—U-tsang, Kham, and Amdo—and two representatives from each of Tibet’s four major schools of Buddhism and the pre-Buddhist Bon religion.
Two members will also be voted in to represent each of the exile Tibetan communities in North and South America and Europe, and one from Australia and Asia, excluding India, Nepal, and Bhutan.
The Tibetan diaspora is estimated to include about 150,000 people living in 40 countries, mainly India, Nepal, North America, and Europe.
The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) and the Dalai Lama have instead adopted a policy approach called the Middle Way, which accepts Tibet’s status as a part of China but urges greater cultural and religious freedom, including strengthened language rights for Tibetans living under Beijing’s rule.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
