Penpa Tsering is elected president of Central Tibetan Administration

Dharamsala: Penpa Tsering, former speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, has been elected as the president of the Central Tibetan Administration based here, officials said on Friday.

Tsering secured 34,324 votes to secure the post of ‘Sikyong’ (political leader), whereas Kalsang Dorjee Aukatsang won 28,907 votes in the recently held polls, said Chief Election Commissioner of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Wangdu Tsering Pesur during an online press briefing here.

He also announced the appointment of 45 members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.

More than 83,000 Tibetans living in 26 countries participated in the third and final round of voting for the election to the post of Sikyong on April 11.

The 45 new members of the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile will include 10 members representing each of Tibet’s three traditional provinces – U-tsang, Kham, and Amdo – and two representatives from each of Tibet’s four major schools of Buddhism and pre-Buddhist Bon religion.

There are around 1.3 lakh Tibetans in India and across the globe.

The first directly elected president of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) was Lobsang Tenzin, who was elected on August 20, 2001.

Before 2011, the post of the president was subordinate to the Dalai Lama, who presided over the government-in-exile since its founding.