The chief election commissioner of
the Tibetan government in-exile has postponed this year’s Prime
Ministerial elections.
The second direct election of the Kalon Tripa or Tibetan Prime
Minister in-exile initially scheduled for December 22 this year has been
postponed on the request of Tibetans living in various settlements in
different parts of India.
“A number of requests from various Tibetan settlements saying
that during December most of the Tibetans in the settlements in
various parts of India they are on business, means that they are
out of the settlements, they will not be in the settlements and
so there will few people who will be voting for the Kalon Tripa
preliminary election, please postponed or preponed the date. So,
accounting to their request we have received and according to the
rules and regulation we have now decided to hold the preliminary
election for the Kalon Tripa on the March 18 next year along with
the election for the 14th Assembly of the Tibetan People’s
Deputies and Kalon Tripa final will be held on 3rd June 2006 next
year,” Tashi Phuntsok, Chief Election Commissioner, told
reporters in Dharamsala, the headquarters of the government, on
Tuesday.
Over 70,000 Tibetan voters exercise their franchise in the direct
election of the head of the Central Tibetan Administration in-
exile.
The direct election of the Kalon Tripa by the people themselves
was started in the year 2001 following an amendment in the
Tibetan charter.
Recently, thousands of Tibetans living in-exile cast their votes
in the preliminary round of the election of the 14th Assembly of
Tibetan People’s Deputies (ATPD).
Members of the ATPD are directly elected by the people every five
years with around 82,000 Tibetan voters registered in India,
Nepal, Bhutan, Europe and North America.
The Tibetan people, both inside and outside Tibet, consider the
government-in-exile to be the sole legitimate government of
Tibet.