The Statesman – 21 March 2017
The Prime Minister of Tibetan government in exile Lobsang Sangay called for electoral reforms and said that the system of one time election should be adopted instead of the existing two phase Tibetan elections for both parliamentarians and the PM.
Earlier on Saturday, Sangay led cabinet had walked out of the proceedings after their proposal of reducing the election process down to the one time final election was not included in the electoral reform amendment.
Sangay said bringing a meaningful reform in the Tibetan electoral rules is one of his main agendas in his remaining tenure, even though he cannot contest for the post in the next election.
“The time period of over 7 months in existing elections format gives the chance to parties including China to create disruption within the volatile period of campaigning by candidates and supporters alike,” Sangay said.
He asserted that his administration is bent on avoiding the election debacle seen during the campaign for his second term as Sikyong last year.
The Tibetan PM said the precedent to hold a single election is practiced by many nations including India. “From my personal experience, the duration within the two elections only serve to amplify the ever growing practice of denigrating candidates even before the term even begins, casting an unwanted public perception,” he said.
The Tibetan observers feel that the inclusion of Sangay’s proposal appears unlikely to bring any personal benefit to him as the Tibetan charter allows only two consecutive terms the Tibetan PM as he is already in his second term.
He has also been criticised by many for disrupting the proceedings of the parliament.
In the run up to the 2016 Tibetan general elections, the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and former PM Samdhong Rinpoche had lamented over the conduct of the candidates during the campaign season.
Internationally, the exile government’s election system also received flak over its undue leverage during the proceedings.
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