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Bhuchung Tsering, a member of the Central Tibetan Administration's Task Force on Sino-Tibetan Negotiations, spoke at the headquarters of Radio Free Asia Feb. 23 on the coming elections for the Tibetan government-in-exile. (Gary Feuerberg/The Epoch Times)
WASHINGTON—Since the time that the Dalai Lama fled his homeland in 1959, the government of Tibet, called the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), has been in exile and is not formally recognized by any other governments. New elections are scheduled on March 20 when the 44 members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile will be selected.
Most significant will be the race between three candidates vying for prime minister (Kalon Tripa).
Radio Free Asia is monitoring the election and providing information to Tibetan listeners and plans to broadcast the March 13 debate—one week before the election—of the main candidates for prime minister.
This marks the second time the position will be directly elected by the Tibetan people, rather than being appointed by the Dalai Lama who is now 75. The first directly-elected Kalon Tripa, Professor Samdhong Rinpoche Lobsang Tenzin, in Sept. 2001. He was elected a second time in August 2006. He is not running this round, opening the field to three candidates, who were the top finishers in a worldwide primary held last October.
A member of the CTA’s Task Force on Sino-Tibetan Negotiations has some concerns about the ability of a secular elected official to carry on much of the role that hitherto the Dalai Lama has done. Bhuchung Tsering spoke Feb. 23 at an election primer for the press held at the Radio Free Asia headquarters in Washington.
“The government-in-exile claims to be the government for the majority of the Tibetan people. How will this person be able to maintain connections, outside and inside Tibet? The Dalai Lama has been able to do it because of his dual role as spiritual-political leader,” said Tsering.
Tibetans in exile span the globe. Tibetans residing in the United States, Canada, Europe, India, Bhutan, and Nepal will elect a new prime minister and parliament. Whoever wins the legislative and executive offices will have the task of governing an estimated 150,000 Tibetan refugees and exiles, the majority of whom reside in India and Nepal.
The main office of the CTA is in Dharmsala, in northern India, where nearly 400 individuals work at the headquarters. It is also the official resident of the Dalai Lama.
The CTA naturally encounters difficulties, being removed from Tibet proper and having as its adversary, the Chinese communist regime that invaded Tibet in 1950 and began a military occupation in 1951.
The No. 1 challenge for the CTA, as the legitimate government of the Tibetan people, is to maintain a relationship with Tibetans living in Tibet and to be seen as the legitimate representative of the aspirations of the Tibetan people.
Give that Tibet has been incorporated in China, “how will they look at a government based in India, to provide some kind of solution to their problems?” asked Tsering.
One development that helps the government-in-exile is the vast improvement in communications. Because of Tibetan language services and radio, communications from the government-in-exile has become broader and faster, said Tsering.
When the Dalai Lama makes a statement in India, “it reaches inside Tibet within hours. Before it took months; now it arrives in minutes or at worse in hours,” Tsering said.
For example, when the Dalai Lama issued a “sumptuous ornament” statement, within a day, you could hardly see anyone inside Tibet wearing clothing with fur lining, said Karma Dorjee, RFA Tibetan service deputy director.
Election of Prime Minister
The front-runner in the election to lead the government is Harvard law professor Lobsang Sangay, 42, who had almost twice the number of votes in preliminary elections on Oct. 3 as his nearest challenger, Tenzin Namgyal Tethong.
Sangay wrote his doctoral thesis on Democracy and History of Tibetan government-in-exile. His Tibetan activism dates back when he was an undergrad and served in top positions with the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress in Delhi.
Tethong, 63, is a distinguished fellow, Tibetan Studies Initiative, at Stanford University and a former representative of the Dalai Lama in New York and Washington.
Next: The Third Candidate
