Penpa Tsering is the new president-elect of Tibetan government-in-exile
Penpa Tsering, 53, has been elected sikyong or president of the Dharamshala-based Tibetan government-in-exile, officially called the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).
Tibetan chief election commissioner Wangdu Tsering on Friday declared Penpa Tsering, who is a former speaker of Tibet’s parliament-in-exile, as the winner of the 2021 general election for sikyong (political leader) after he got 34,324 votes in the final round of election that was held on April 11.
Penpa Tsering defeated Aukatsang Kelsang Dorjee by 5,417 votes. Dorjee, a former representative of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, polled 28,907 votes.
The first round of the election was held on January 3. Tsering had led the first round by polling 24,488 votes. Dorjee had polled 14,544 votes. There were eight candidates in the fray for the post of sikyong in the first round of which Tsering and Dorjee made it to the second round.
Born in the Bylakuppe Refugee Camp in Karnataka in 1967, Tsering attended the Central School for Tibetans at Bylakuppe, topping the merit list in Class 12. He did his graduation from Madras Christian College, Chennai, where he majored in economics.
Tsering served as the general secretary for the Tibetan Freedom Movement and the Nigerian-Tibet Friendship Association during his college days and later as executive director at the Tibetan Parliamentary and Research Centre in Delhi from 2001-08.
He was elected to the 12th and 13th Tibetan parliament-in-exile and served two terms as speaker from 2008-16.
Tsering contested the 2016 sikyong election but lost to the outgoing Lobsang Sangay.
He was appointed to the North America Representative of the Dalai Lama in 2016 but removed a year later on charges of dereliction of duty after he levelled allegations of corruption against Sangay. He faced an inquiry, and the matter also reached the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission. Tsering won the case.
The chief election commissioner also declared the results for 45 seats of the members in the 17th parliament-in-exile.
