Pema Jungney sworn in as the new Speaker of 16th TPIE

DHARAMSALA, Dec 1: Member of Parliament Pema Jungney was swore-in as the new Speaker of the 16th Tibetan Parliament-in-exile (TPIE).

MP Pema Jungney took the oath of office from Tibetan Chief Justice Commissioner, Kargyu Dhondup at a brief ceremony held earlier today at the T-building, the new auditorium of the Central Tibetan Administration(CTA) at its headquarters in Dharamsala.

President of the CTA, Members of Kashag (Tibetan Cabinet), Deputy Speaker, secretaries and senior officials of CTA were in attendance at the brief ceremony.

MP Pema Jungney will now succeed Speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel and chair the Parliament for the remaining part of the term till the eleventh and final session of the 16th Tibetan Parliament.

The newly swore in Speaker of the 16th TPIE told reporters that he will strive to work to restore the freedom of Tibetans in accordance with the wishes of the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama at large and to build bridges with parliaments of the Indian states across India.

Pema Jungney, the longest longest-serving parliamentarian from the 16th TPIE has previously served as the joint speaker of the 13th TPIE from March 2002- May 2006 along with MP Thubten Lungrig (June 2001 to Sept 2001) and MP Karma Choephel (Sept 2001 to March 2002).

The 45 members of the 16th 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 voted MP Khenpo Sonam Tenphel and MP Pema Jungney as the joint speaker of the parliament.

Khenpo Sonam Tenphel presided over the proceedings of TPIE until its sixth session which concluded on Sept 28 earlier this year.