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Two candidates have now emerged as finalists in a primary spherical of voting by Tibetans dwelling exterior their China-ruled homeland for chief, or Sikyong, of Tibet’s Dharamsala, India-based exile authorities, the Central Tibetan Administration, RFA has realized.
Thousands of Tibetans around the globe took half within the preliminary spherical of voting on Jan. 3, with counting of the votes starting on Jan. 5 and anticipated to finish by Jan. 12. A second spherical of voting on April 11 will determine the winner together with members of the 17th parliament in exile.
Preliminary vote counts confirmed by RFA present former speaker of Tibet’s exile parliament Penpa Tsering in first place with 23,687 votes, adopted by Aukatsang Kelsang Dorjee, former consultant of Tibet’s exiled non secular chief the Dalai Lama, with 13,754 votes.
Gyari Dolma, former CTA house minister and the primary lady to run for the workplace of Sikyong, got here third within the race with 13,126 votes, and Drongchung Ngodup, consultant of the Dalai Lama within the Indian capital New Delhi, got here fourth with votes totaling 9,742.
Results of the preliminary spherical of voting can be formally introduced on Feb. 8 by the CTA Election Commission, which says that the 2 candidates with the very best variety of votes will transfer on to the second spherical on April 11, with closing outcomes introduced on May 14.
Formed in 1959, the Central Tibetan Administration has government, judiciary, and legislative branches, with candidates for the workplace of Sikyong, or president, elected since 2011 by common vote.
Lobsang Sangay, a Harvard-trained scholar of regulation, has now served two consecutive five-year phrases as Sikyong and can go away that publish when his current time period expires in May 2021.
The Tibetan diaspora is estimated to incorporate about 150,000 folks dwelling in 40 international locations, primarily India, Nepal. North America, and in Europe. Among these, 82,818 registered to vote within the 2011 election, of whom 48,482 voted, and 90,877 registered for the election in 2016, of whom 59,853 turned out to vote.
A previously unbiased nation
Formerly an unbiased nation, Tibet was invaded and included into China by power almost 70 years in the past, following which the Dalai Lama and 1000’s of his followers fled into exile in in India and different international locations around the globe.
Divisions persist within the Tibetan exile neighborhood over how finest to advance the rights and freedoms of Tibetans dwelling in China, with some calling for a restoration of the independence misplaced when Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950.
The CTA and Tibet’s non secular chief the Dalai Lama have as an alternative adopted a coverage strategy known as the Middle Way, which accepts Tibet’s current standing as part of China however urges better cultural and non secular freedoms, together with strengthened language rights, for Tibetans dwelling underneath Beijing’s rule.
Nine rounds of talks on better autonomy in Tibetan areas of China have been held between high-level Chinese officers and envoys of the Dalai Lama starting in 2002, however stalled in 2010 and have been by no means resumed.
US, Dalai Lama share issues
The Dalai Lama and the U.S. State Department’s Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Robert Destro in a digital assembly on Jan. 13 mentioned the advantages of the Middle Way Approach and the significance of environmental points on the Tibetan Plateau, a State Department spokesperson instructed RFA on Thursday.
“They also discussed the need to preserve Tibetan knowledge, including Tibetans’ unique linguistic, cultural, and religious traditions,” the State Department mentioned, including that the United States shares worldwide concern over rising human rights abuses in Tibet.
These embrace “coercive labor practices, and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) declared intention to “Sinicize” Tibetan Buddhism and to intrude within the succession of non secular leaders,” the State Department mentioned.
“The United States is especially involved the CCP might try to appoint its personal Dalai Lama.”
“Tibetan Buddhists wherever they reside ought to be allowed to pick, educate, and venerate the long run Dalai Lama and different non secular leaders with out PRC officers’ interference,” the State Department mentioned.
Reported by Tashi Wangchuk for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.
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