Exile Tibetans Elect New Political Leader

March 21st, 2016

Awake Goy

nsnbc : Tibetans in exile in India and 84 other locations started voting to elect a political leader for the next five years as the aging spiritual and political Tensyn Gyatso a.k.a. Dalai Lama wants to relinquish his political powers. Exile Tibetans maintain an exile government in Dharamsala, India since a failed uprising in 1959. The exile community has since then drawn sharp criticism from Buddhists as well as from China and many Tibetans for CIA-backed insurgencies in and for lending themselves as proxy for US geopolitical interests directed against China.

The self-proclaimed Tibetan government in exile has its “interim capital” in Dharamsala, India. The exile government is struggling for what they describe as “complete autonomy” for Tibet, China. It is the second election of its kind since the 80-year-old Dalai Lama announced that he wants to relinquish his political powers and vest his powers as King of Tibet in a democratic system that would outlast him.

Tibet was until the failed uprising in 1959 run by a theocratic aristocracy centered in monasteries. Human and civil rights were virtually non-existent and excessive abuse, including amputations of limbs of “serfs” who had violated crimes were endemic.

China does not recognize the exile government that represent about 100,000 Tibetans. The majority of them is living in India, Nepal and Bhutan. Elections were, however, held in a total of 85 locations worldwide. The final results of the elections are expected to be announced on April 27.

Intermediate results from March 21 show that Lobsang Sangay leads with 20,206 votes. He is followed by Penpa Tsering with 16,536 votes. Concerns about the Dalai Lama and the expediency of holding elections increased after he was admitted to a hospital in the United States for treatment earlier this year. The winner of the elections, will bear the sole responsibility for political and diplomatic decisions of the exile government.

The Dalai Lama’s decision to separate the spiritual leadership from the political leadership cam after decades of criticism from other branches of Buddhism worldwide. The theological arguments are that holding political, diplomatic or other worldly office is irreconcilable with the life of a monk and with the most fundamental Buddhist tenets.

The Dalai Lama has also been criticized for a dictatorial style with regard to maintaining the leading role of the Gelugpa sect, for attempts to “Gelugpaize” the Nyingma and other sects, as well as for a dictatorial and at times violent crackdown against Dorje Shugden practitioners.

CH/L – nsnbc 21.03.2016