Tibetan polling stations around the world are preparing for the election of the Tibetan government-in-exile on January 3, 2021.
Mr. Lausanne Senge, a Harvard-educated legal scholar, has served two consecutive terms in the central Tibetan government since 2011 and will leave office when his term ends in May 2021.
There are currently seven candidates, including one woman, to be the next head of the central Government in Tibet, according to VOA’s Tibetan service. Some 80,000 Tibetans from 26 countries have signed up for 2021 elections. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Tibetans in California and other parts of the United States began voting on January 1.
In India, the largest base for Tibetan exiles, the Tibetan government-in-exile is based in Dharamsala, which has 16 polling stations.
Election commission said the central government, Tibet to department of politics and the 17th of the Tibetan parliament voted on January 3, choose SiZheng candidates won the most votes the two candidates, held on April 11, the second and final round of voting, the winner will become the next leader of the central government of Tibet, a five-year term.
Despite the low voter registration rate due to COVID-19, turnout is expected to be higher than in 2016.
The Tibetan diaspora is estimated to number about 150,000, living in 40 countries. Of these, 82,818 voters registered for the 2011 election, 48,482 of whom voted, and 90,877 registered in 2016, 59,853 of whom voted.
Social distancing, wearing of masks, disinfection of polling stations and other means to prevent novel coronavirus infection.
These elections are significant and they have the support of the United States.
US President Donald Trump signed the Tibet Policy and Support Act 2020 on Sunday, reaffirming the right of Tibetans to choose a successor to the Dalai Lama and calling for the establishment of a US consulate in Tibet. China has warned that the move will seriously disrupt and damage bilateral relations.
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