Dharamsala: Tibetans in exile have re-elected a Harvard-educated lawyer as their political leader to spearhead a campaign to press China to grant Tibet autonomy, a Tibetan government-in-exile said today.
Lobsang Sangay, who has led the 150,000-odd Tibetan diaspora since 2011 when the Dalai Lama relinquished his political power, won 57 percent of the almost 60,000 votes cast, the electoral commission announced in the hill town of Dharamsala, where the administration is based.
The Dalai Lama, 81, has sought to build a democratic system of government for exiled Tibetans that is strong enough to hold the community together and negotiate with China after his death.
Question marks over what happens when the spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Laureate dies, amid competing assertions over who should succeed him, have reinforced Tibetans' need for a leader endowed with democratic legitimacy.
Tibetan Buddhism holds that the soul of a senior lama is reincarnated in the body of a child after he dies. China says it must sign off on the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising.
"I voted for him because of his educated background," said Choezin, a 53-year-old crimson-robed monk who fled Tibet in 1985 to settle in Dharamsala.
"His Holiness wants somebody who can continue the work he has done. He has said Sangay is the right man."
Sangay will head the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) for five years. No country recognises the CTA and China has declined to talk to it.
Tibetans accuse Chinese authorities of eroding their deeply Buddhist culture by clamping down on religious practice and flooding the region with ethnic Han Chinese.
China says it has brought development to what was a backward region and it accuses the Dalai Lama of being a "splittist" seeking independence.
The election campaign was marked by bitter rivalry between candidates, which earned rebukes from the Dalai Lama.
Sangay, like the Dalai Lama and most Tibetans, backs the so-called middle way demand for autonomy within China rather than independence. But during his first term he failed to make headway in convincing the Chinese to talk.
Formal negotiations between the Chinese and representatives of the Dalai Lama broke down in 2010, and the stalemate since then has cast a pall over Tibetans in exile.
Beijing's growing economic might has slowly relegated the Tibetan cause from the international stage. The Dalai Lama has in recent years been denied an audience with several world leaders including the Pope.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lobsang Sangay, who has led the 150,000-odd Tibetan diaspora since 2011 when the Dalai Lama relinquished his political power, won 57 percent of the almost 60,000 votes cast, the electoral commission announced in the hill town of Dharamsala, where the administration is based.
The Dalai Lama, 81, has sought to build a democratic system of government for exiled Tibetans that is strong enough to hold the community together and negotiate with China after his death.
Tibetan Buddhism holds that the soul of a senior lama is reincarnated in the body of a child after he dies. China says it must sign off on the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising.
Advertisement
"His Holiness wants somebody who can continue the work he has done. He has said Sangay is the right man."
Advertisement
Tibetans accuse Chinese authorities of eroding their deeply Buddhist culture by clamping down on religious practice and flooding the region with ethnic Han Chinese.
Advertisement
The election campaign was marked by bitter rivalry between candidates, which earned rebukes from the Dalai Lama.
Advertisement
Formal negotiations between the Chinese and representatives of the Dalai Lama broke down in 2010, and the stalemate since then has cast a pall over Tibetans in exile.
Advertisement
© Thomson Reuters 2016
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
COMMENTS
Advertisement
"He's Playful, Pure": Tibetan Leader Defends Dalai Lama Amid Row Scrapping Article 370 India's Internal Matter: Tibetan President-In-Exile Tibetans Want PM Modi's "Make In India" To Succeed, Says Leader Amid Huge Row, Karnataka Pauses Bill For Reservation In Private Sector Firms Travel Influencer Aanvi Kamdar Dies After Falling Off A Waterfall Near Mumbai Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Opposes Karnataka's Job Quota Bill, Minister Responds World's Largest Isolated Tribe Makes Rare Appearance In New Footage Puja Khedkar's Father Was Suspended Twice On Extortion Complaints Meet Gagan, A Daily Wager Who Cracked IIT Despite All Odds Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.