By Tenzin Tsering
Dharamsala, July 6 – “I realized my Green book was required to cast my vote. I had to run home to get it. I will be better prepared on October 3rd.” said Lobsang Jamyang, a 21 year old Tibetan who participated in the Tibetan Womens’ Association’s (TWA) ‘Kalon Tripa Mock Election’ yesterday on the occasion of the 75th birthday of the Dalai Lama.
With only 3 months for the Preliminary election of Kalon Tripa scheduled for Oct 3 and the Final election on March 20 2011, the organization “is confident that the mock election will throw the much needed light on the process, candidates, voter participation and effectively educate the Tibetan electorate to exercise their franchise” , said Tseyang Oshoe, General Secretary of TWA, which held similar elections across Tibetan communities worldwide.
The last Kalon Tripa’s election in 2006 saw a barely quarter of the eligible Tibetan voters exercising their franchise. Estimates show that of the eligible voters, only 60% registered to vote and in the eventual a mere 28.6% voted.
Citing “poor awareness” as the primary cause for the low voter turnout in the 2006 elections, the organization believes that today’s Mock Election will serve as a “wake up call” to the Tibetan citizens and “aims to push the voter turnout to 75%” in the 2011 elections, said Dolkar Lhamo Kirti, President of the Tibetan Women’s Association.
Dolma Gyari, Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament who participated in the mock election lauded “TWA’s initiative towards spreading awareness on the importance of exercising one’s right to vote, which will further the growth of democracy in our exile community.”
“I commend TWA’s endeavor in bringing out such a wide scale awareness campaign on the Kalon Tripa election which is in the offing, but I also wish the same could be done for the election of the Members of Parliament (chithue)” said Pempa Tsering, Speaker of the Parliament who also took part in the mock election, at the Main Temple.
In 2001, Rinpoche became the first directly elected prime minister with an overwhelming majority after the Dalai Lama, as part of an effort to further democratize the Tibetan polity in 2000, called for a directly elected leader of the Tibetans living in exile. He was again re-elected in 2006, with another landslide victory.
There is an apparent wish, in particular from the older generation of the Tibetan exiles that “If Rinpoche could stand for the third time in the Kalon Tripa Election,” said a hopeful 68 yr old Dolma Yangzom.
However, the Tibetan Charter bars any individual from holding the office for more than 2 terms like other democratic nations.
The Mock election also surfaced the dilemma Tibetan people may have in choosing their candidate for Kalon Tripa as many seem still in the dark on who to cast their votes. “ I am little clueless at the moment, the names that have been circulating around as possible candidates for Kalon Tripa are not very familiar to me,” said one confused Tibetan at the polling booth.
Though the entire day witnessed a heavy downpour, the polling booth at the Main Temple (Tsuglagkhang) where all the eligible voters in Dharamsala and other Tibetan pockets in Kangra District are invited to participate, saw a many enthusiastic participants as well.
“I see it as a dress rehearsal. I think this will be a helpful experiment to the Tibetans and educate them on how to properly cast their votes in the coming elections,” said a monk after casting his vote.
Other than holding awareness campaigns on the elections, TWA says it will completely refrain from endorsing or nominating any particular candidate for the Kalon Tripa elections.
At the end of the day, Dhardon Sharling from TWA expressed that “though the voter turnout was only 20% of the eligible voters in Dharamsala, the entire process of the mock election proved to be transformative and educational to those who participated and drew curiosity from the rest.”
From July 16 to 22, executive members of regional chapters of TWA will bring the ballots together in Manali for an aggregate and transparent counting. On September 10, the organization will produce a detailed report on voter participation, and names of the candidates elected by the voters in the Mock election.
