Dharamsala, Feb 3: The Dalai Lama’s envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen Wednesday briefed the three contending candidates for the post of Kalon Tripa (prime minister of Tibet’s government in exile) on the ongoing dialogue process with the Chinese leadership.
The three candidates Dr Lobsang Sangay, Kalon Trisur Tenzin Namgyal Tethong and Kasur Tashi Wangdi arrived in Dharamsala earlier last week to take part in public debates as they continue their campaigns for the highest elected post of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.
The briefing was initiated by the envoys in consultation with incumbent Tibetan Prime Minister Prof Samdhong Rinpoche and with the approval of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a post on the official website of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile said.
In a three-hour briefing, the post said, the envoy updated the three candidates on the status of the dialogue process.
According to the report, Mr Gyaltsen began his briefing by recounting the “genesis of the dialogue process between Dharamsala and Beijing in 1979” when the then China’s paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, stated that “except for the issue of Tibetan independence, everything else could be discussed and resolved”.
Envoy Gyaltsen summarised the content of the discussions between the Tibetan team and the representatives of the Chinese government that it said comprised of “623 pages of meeting minutes and 200 pages of written notes, clarifications and statements” given by the Tibetan delegation to the Chinese side.
Since 2002 Special Envoy Kasur Lodi Gyari led the Tibetan team in nine rounds of talks with the representatives of the Chinese government. The last meeting with the Chinese side was held in January 2010.
Tibetan exiles around the world will go to poll on March 20, 2011, to elect their prime minister, who will head the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, whose primary responsibility among others is to seek a resolution to the vexed Tibetan issue.
The Central Election Commission last month announced the final lists of candidates for the final rounds of the 2011 Tibetan General Elections.
Following the hotly contested preliminary rounds of the prime ministerial election held in October last year, the Election Commission had short-listed a total of top six candidates for the final round of its election.
The other three candidates – Mrs Gyari Dolma, the incumbent deputy speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile, Mr Lobsang Jinpa and Khorlatsang Sonam Topgyal – later withdrew their candidacy.
Out of the total votes cast by Tibetan exiles around the world in the preliminary race, Dr Sangay secured 22,489 votes, which is more than 10,000 votes ahead of the next highest voted candidate. Mr Tethong, Mrs Gyari, Mr Wangdi, Mr Jinpa and Mr Topgyal had secured 12319, 2733, 2101, 1545 and 605 votes respectively.
Of an estimated 150,000 Tibetan exiles around the world, more than 82,000 are registered to vote in the upcoming general elections.
