Lobsang Sangay re-elected PM of Tibetan 'govt-in-exile'

Dharamsala: Lobsang Sangay was on Wednesday elected as head of the Tibetan ‘government-in-exile’ for a second consecutive term. Sangay, 48, defeated his only rival Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament Pempa Tsering by 9,012 votes, Chief Election Commissioner of the Tibetan ‘government-in-exile’ Sonam Chhopel said. [caption id=“attachment_2751886” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Lobsang Sangay. AFP[/caption] Sangay polled 33,876 votes, while Tsering secured 24,864 votes. There were 90,377 registered voters for the elections, of which 59,353 exercised their franchise. “The names of all the 45 elected members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile have also been declared today along with the declaration of the PM’s result,” Chhopel said. He said the election to the post of PM started on 18 October last year with five candidates in the initial stage. “At last, two candidates survived in this five-stage election to the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. The other three candidates were rejected by the voters in the first stage only,” Chhopel said. He said the last stage of the election was conducted on March 20. The last stage counting of the votes were conducted from 20-22 April, 2016 at Dharamsala by an eight-member standing committee headed by the CEC. The 2016 general election were the second direct elections for electing the Tibetan leadership since the retirement of the Dalai Lama from politics in 2011 when Sangay took charge as his political successor. Darjeeling-born Sangay did his studies in Delhi, before going for higher education in the US. He was a senior Fellow at the Harvard Law School. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama today attended the first Masters degree graduation ceremony of Tibetan College at Sarah in Dharamsala. The first batch of 13 MA graduates received their masters degrees in Tibetan studies from the Education Minister of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). “Modern education alone will not be enough. One should have moral ethics for both personal and community life,” the Dalai Lama said. “Tibetan culture has much to offer. We need to find ways to share it with the world,” he added.