Khenpo Sonam Tenphel elected speaker of 17th TPIE, Dolma Tsering elected Deputy Speaker
DHARAMSALA, 8 Oct: Members of the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-exile (TPIE) took their oath of office and elected the new Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
Following the counsel of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan legislators today took the oath of office as prescribed by the Charter Charter of the Tibetans-in-Exile putting an end to the political stalemate that has hampered the functioning of the Central Tibetan Administration(CTA) for nearly four months.
The Tibetan Election Commission (EC) Wangdu Tsering Pesur, conducted the election of the new Speaker and Deputy Speaker in the afternoon at 2 pm. The 45 members of the TPIE, comprising 10 each from three provinces of Tibet (Dotoe, Domey and U-Tsang), 2 each from religious sects (Sakya, Nyingma, Kagyu, Gelug and Bon), 2 each from North America and Europe and 1 from Australasia elected the Speaker and Deputy Speaker after casting their votes through a secret ballot.
MP Khenpo Sonam Tenphel edged past MP Dolma Tsering by 23 votes against her 22 votes to become the Speaker-elect of the 17th TPIE.
With 23 votes, MP Dolma Tsering was elected the Deputy Speaker. MP Lhagyari Namgyal Dolkar came second with 18 votes while MP Aukatsang Youdon secured 2 votes in the election of the 17th TPIE’s Deputy Speaker.
Khenpo Sonam Tenphel and Dolma Tsering will now be sworn in as the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the 17th TPIE tomorrow by Dagpo Sonam Norbu, the Chief Justice Commissioner of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission of the CTA.
Khenpo Sonam Tenphel was also the Speaker of the 16th TPIE, a post he shared with Pema Jungney as they shared equal votes in the election.
