The preliminary election for Sikyong (Prime Minister) and the 16th members of Tibetan Parliament-in-exile took place on October 18 at 60 different places around the world.
Incumbent Sikyong(Prime Minister) Lobsang Sangay casting his ballot for the preliminary election at Dharamshala
Photo:Tibet Sun
The results of the preliminary election for the Sikyong post are being declared one after another from each location; the official total results from all the places will be declared by the Election Commission in March, 2016.
From the results in so far, looking at the vote count for the Sikyong candidates in from 47 different places, there are reports that the incumbent Sikyong Lobsang Sangay is far ahead of the other candidates. The Tibet Sun has reported the unofficial result to date: Lobsang Sangay 22,063; Penpa Tsering 8,102; Tashi Wangdu 1,360; Lukar Jam 1,295; Tashi Topgyal 28.
The election process was observed by three delegations from election monitoring organisations:the Asia Democracy Network (ADN); the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) and Forum-Asia in association with Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD),who were present in Dharamshala on election day. They praised the Tibetan election for the high turnout and said, “we wish to congratulate the Tibetan community in exile for turning out in large numbers to exercise their democratic right to select their leaders in a peaceful and orderly manner.”
Compared with the 2011 election, the observers said “this election saw people’s vigorous engagement in election through debates, discussions and campaign activities, which is evidence of people’s active involvement in the political process which should be encouraged and embraced”.
Election observers presenting their findings
Photo:Phayul
Ryan D Whelan, Campaign and Advocacy Coordinator at ANFREL, said, “Given the stateless Diaspora spread across the globe, the inclusive nature of the EC’s organising the voting….is admirable and worthy of imitation by much larger and more established ECs in other countries.”
The observers were invited to participate in the election process in order to raise the profile of the exile Tibetan democratic process of election among international communities and to analyse the current state of the Tibetan election.
The day following the preliminary election, the Election Commission (EC) stated that they will announce a shortlist of two candidates for the Sikyong post for the final election in March, unless the margin between the second and third candidate is less than 20%, in which case the shortlist will consist of three candidates for the final election.
There has been much discussion among the Tibetan exile community and on social media, with updates reported in the Tibetan media, and general engagement in the election process. There have been reports of some confusion due to an announcement by the EC of amended rules, and “some incomplete votes”, however these issues are being discussed and addressed.
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