Voter registration will begin next week and will last for two months, says Chief Election Commissioner
By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, June 10: The Tibetan Election Commission Thursday announced the dates for the 2011 general elections when Tibetan exiles will elect their Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) and the members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.
The Election Commission this time has decided both the Kalon Tripa and Parliament elections would take place on the same day both during their preliminary and final rounds.
While the primary elections to nominate candidates is set on October 3, 2010, the general elections will take place on March 20, 2011.
“This time we have decided to hold both the Kalon Tripa and parliamentary elections on the same day for the sheer convenience of the Tibetan exiles and to ensure their maximum participation,” the Chief Election Commissioner Mr Jamphal Choesang said at a press conference here this morning.
“We have carefully considered number of factors and held thorough discussions to come to this decision,” Mr Choesang added.
He said the dates were finalised mainly considering the convenience of the Tibetan people living in India, Nepal and Bhutan as they form the largest Tibetan community in exile.
He said the date for the general elections was set close to Losar (Tibetan New Year) celebrations as maximum people would be in their respective settlements or, places of residence to take part in the poll.
Estimates show that some 120,000 of the approximately 150,000 Tibetan exiles worldwide are above the age of 18 and are eligible to vote. In the last Kalon Tripa election in 2006, 72,000 (60%) were registered to vote and, an estimated 26.8% (32,205 people) actually voted.
The Chief Election Commissioner also announced that the voter registration would formally begin next week and would last for two months.
“The registration of voters will start on Friday, June 18, and will close on Wednesday, August 18, 2010,” Mr Choesang said.
He said voter registration is mandatory to be eligible to cast vote in the elections.
He also explained that a registered voter is free to cast vote at any of the polling stations set up at any location, provided voter identification (Green Book) is presented at the time of poll.
At the press conference, Mr Choesang also introduced the two additional election commissioners, Ven. Geshe Rigzin Choedak and Mr Jeper Yangkho Gyal, who were recently appointed to the posts by the exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Geshe Choedak is the principal of the Dharamsala-based Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute and Mr Gyal is a Tibetan scholar and general secretary of the Multi Education Editing Center (Sheja Kundue Tsomdig) also based in Dharamsala.
The Charter of the Tibetans in Exile provides for the appointment of two additional election commissioners to assist in the general election process. They have the same responsibility and power as the chief election commissioner.
The two election commissioners are appointed from a list of candidates drawn by a special committee, which in turn is formed by another committee comprising of chief justice commissioner, Speaker and deputy speaker of the Tibetan Parliament.
The Election Commission of the Central Tibetan Administration is an autonomous body which oversees the elections of the Kalon Tripa, members of the Parliament, the speaker and deputy speaker the Parliament and others. It is a two-tier body – the Central Election Commission is the apex body with as many election commissions formed under it in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Europe, North America and few other countries.
The forthcoming general elections will decide the third directly elected Tibetan PM and also the successor to the incumbent Kalon Tripa, marking the first democratic transfer of executive power in the history of the Tibetan nation. It will also see the election of members who will form the 15th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.
In 2001, Prof Samdhong Rinpoche became the first directly elected prime minister after the Dalai Lama, as part of an effort to further democratize the Tibetan polity towards the late 1990’s, called for a directly “elected political leader” of the Tibetans living in exile.
Rinpoche is currently running his second consecutive term in the office after he secured a landslide victory in the 2006 elections receiving more than 29,000 votes (90.72%) of the total votes cast.
Rinpoche will complete his term in August next year. Like other democratic countries, the charter of the Tibetan exiles bars a candidate from serving more than two consecutive terms.
