Exiled Tibetans to elect government in vote condemned by China<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need voices that reflect where our community is going, not just\nwhere it has been\u201d, a first-time voter told AFP.<\/p>\n
BYALKUPPE, India: Tibetans outside Chinese control vote on Sunday\n(Apr 26) for a government-in-exile, an election of heightened\nsignificance as they brace for an inevitable, eventual, future without\ntheir revered spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.<\/p>\n
The India-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) - condemned by\nChina as \u201cnothing but a separatist political group\u201d - is a key\ninstitution for the exiles, especially after the Dalai Lama handed over\npolitical power in 2011.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur votes matter,\u201d said Tenzin Tsering, 19, a first-time voter,\nwaiting to cast his ballot to push for greater youth representation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need voices that reflect where our community is going, not just\nwhere it has been\u201d, he said, speaking in Bylakuppe in India\u2019s southern\nstate of Karnataka, one of the largest Tibetan communities outside the\nHimalayan plateau.<\/p>\n
Polling is due to take place in 27 countries - but not China.<\/p>\n
The 91,000 registered voters including Buddhist monks in the high\nHimalayas, political exiles in South Asia\u2019s megacities and refugees in\nAustralia, Europe and North America.<\/p>\n
The 90-year-old Dalai Lama, based in India since fleeing the Tibetan\ncapital Lhasa after Chinese troops crushed an uprising in 1959, insists\nhe has many more years to live.<\/p>\n
But supporters of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate are acutely aware\nthat self-declared atheist and Communist China said last year that it\nmust approve the Buddhist leader\u2019s eventual successor.<\/p>\n
The Dalai Lama says only his India-based office has that right.<\/p>\n
Tibetan Buddhists believe he is the 14th reincarnation of a spiritual\nleader first born in 1391.<\/p>\n
The five-year parliament, which sits twice a year, has 45 members\nfrom across the world: 30 representing three traditional provinces, 10\nrepresenting five religious traditions, and five representing the\ndiaspora.<\/p>\n
Headquartered in Dharamsala in northern India, it functions as a\nrepresentative body for an estimated 150,000 Tibetans living in exile\nworldwide.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s \u201csikyong\u201d, or leader, Penpa Tsering, was elected for\na second term on Feb 1, after taking 61 per cent in the preliminary\nround - a high enough threshold to win outright.<\/p>\n
Tsering, like the government, does not seek full independence for\nTibet, in line with the Dalai Lama\u2019s long-standing \u201cMiddle Way\u201d policy\nseeking autonomy.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/exiled-tibetans-to-elect-government-in-vote-condemned-by-china-1777182695", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }