MCLEOD GANJ, India, 19 April 2006 — In an unprecedented development, the Dalai Lama has renounced his privilege of appointing three members to the Tibetan parliament-in-exile.
Though the Dalai Lama is on a tour of the Americas, a letter written to the Election Commission of the Tibetan government-in-exile from his office stated that the Dalai Lama has decided to relinquish his prerogative of appointing three members to the parliament.
According to the Charter of the exiled Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama has the prerogative of nominating one to three members with distinction in the fields of art, science, literature and community service.
The 43 members for the 14th Tibetan parliament-in-exile were announced today, ahead of the planned announcement date later this month. The final round of elections took place on 18 March, when 43,302 votes were cast.
Tsetan Norbu, the former President of the Tibetan Youth Congress, from Nepal has topped the elections in U-tsang province, securing 14,456 votes. Norbu is elected for the first time to the parliament.
Dolma Gyari, securing 7053 votes, has led in the Kham province, which has five new members.
Penpa Tsering with 1353 votes has led in the Amdo province.
The new parliament has 16 new faces, most of them from younger generation Tibetans. Tenzin Dhargyal, an Election Commissioner, himself modern educated and from the younger generation, hopes to see new changes in their approach and policies in the parliament.
“There are many new and young faces in the new parliament, which is a welcome change. I hope to see new initiatives and positive changes through them, but we can only wait and see what happens,” Dhargyal says.
The members of the 14th parliament will take the oath of office at the end of May.
Click here to view all the members elected to the 14th parliament on tibet.net.
