8 in fray for president post, Tibetans to vote for govt-in-exile today

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, January 2

The first round of the elections for the post of president of the Tibetan government in-exile (Sikyong) will be held tomorrow. Tibetans living in-exile across the globe will vote to elect their new Sikyong and 17th parliament.

Preparations were on at McLeodganj today for the elections and arrangements were being made keeping in view the Covid protocol. The voters are expected to observe social distancing while voting tomorrow.

The eight candidates in the fray for the post of Sikyong are Dongchung Ngodup, the Dalai Lama’s representative in New Delhi; Penpa Tsering, former Speaker of Tibetan parliament in-exile and former envoy in Washington DC; Kelsang Dorjee Aukatsang (Kaydor), who has been special adviser to Sikyong Lobsang Sangay and the Dalai Lama’s representative to North America; Dolma Gyari, former minister in the Tibetan government in-exile who is the first woman to contest for the post of president; Acharya Yeshi, present Deputy Speaker; Lobsang Nyandak, former minister based in New York; Tashi Wangdu, former CEO of the Federation of Tibetan Cooperative Societies, Bangalore; and Tashi Topgyal, who is based in Shillong.

The elections will be held to elect the president and 45 members of the Tibetan parliament in-exile. According to the Central Tibetan Administrations (CTA) Election Commission, more than 82,000 Tibetans living outside Tibet have registered for voting — around 57,000 living in India and 25,000 in other countries. Any Tibetan aged above 18 years as per one’s identity document, also called Tibetan Green Book, is eligible to vote following registration. Tibetans living outside the subcontinent will elect their MPs based on their current geographic location. Besides MPs, voters will make their choice of the president as well.

The voting will be held in two rounds. In the preliminary round tomorrow, there will be no official candidates. A voter can choose any person of his choice. The two top contenders of the first round will become the official candidates for the second round of the elections to be held on April 11.

There are about 1.3 lakh Tibetans living in exile and settled across India and other parts of the globe. Out of these over one lakh Tibetans are settled across India, while the remaining are settled in the USA, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, Mongolia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and various other countries. The results of the first round will be declared on February 8 and for the final election is expected on May 14.