By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, Jan 27: The Central Election Commission of the Tibet’s government in exile on Thursday revealed that there were little more than 3200 newly registered voters after it embarked on a fresh voter registration drive following the preliminary elections held in October last year.
The election commission had earlier set January 25 as the deadline date for the fresh voter registrations to reach its office.
“We have so far considered 3276 registered voters from the fresh voter registration we received from 24 different locations around the world,” Ven Geshe Rigzin Choedak, one of the two appointed Additional Election Commissioners, said.
Of them, 1356 voters are from North America, 156 from Europe, and remaining 1764 are from India, Ven Choedhak explained.
With this the total registered voters in the Tibetan electoral rolls for the 2011 General Elections as of now has increased to 82,725 from the earlier figure of 79,449.
Out of the 56 total electoral areas located around the world, Ven Choedak said his office actually received voter registrations from 26 of them.
He said the lists of two other areas with more than 200 voters were under process for further considerations.
“We are yet to consider the lists of registered voters we received from Sataun and Paonta areas in India. There are altogether more than 200 people in those two lists. There is a need to verify certain details in them. Once it is duly considered, we are expecting the total figure from the fresh voter registration would be around 3500,” said Ven Choedhak.
The Central Tibetan Election Commission last week announced the final lists of candidates for the upcoming prime ministerial and Tibetan parliamentary elections.
The final rounds of the elections to be held on March 20, 2011 will elect the third directly-elected Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) of Tibet’s government in exile and the members of the 15th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.
Out of the 79,449 initial registered voters, little over 47,000 (approximately 61%) voted in the preliminary polls conducted on October 3.
Following the preliminary elections held in October last year, the election commission had announced fresh registration dates from November 30, 2010 to January 17, 2011 for eligible voters who have missed the preliminary rounds.
Although the voter turnout may vary from place to place, the overall figure of registered voters for the 2011 elections is now almost 10,000 higher than that of the last general elections.
In the last general elections held in 2006, 72,776 (60%) were registered to vote and, an estimated 26.8% (32,205 people) actually voted.
According to the Tibetan Election Commission, there were more than 9000 eligible Tibetan voters who had missed registration ahead of the preliminary rounds of the elections.
The latest population census conducted by the Tibetan Planning Commission in 2009 showed there were little over 89,000 Tibetans of the approximately 150,000 Tibetans in exile are above the age of 18 and are eligible to vote.
To be an eligible voter, a Tibetan must have completed 18 years of age at the time of registration. Tibetan electoral rule allows a registered voter to freely cast his vote at any polling booth, provided the Tibetan Green Book is duly furnished at the time of voting.
