A 43-year-old senior fellow of Harvard Law School has been elected Kalon Tripa of the Central Tibetan Administration.
DHARAMSHALA: Dr Lobsang Sangay won 27,051 votes (55 percent) in the final round of polling held on 20 March. Out of 83,990 registered voters, 49,184 cast their ballots.
The other two candidates – Kalon Trisur Tenzin Namgyal Tethong and Kasur Tashi Wangdi – got 18,405 (37.42 percent) and 3173 (6.44 percent) votes, respectively.
In a thank you message, Dr Sangay said: “With profound humility I accept the Tibetan people’s support and the post of Kalon Tripa. It is sobering to realize that nearly 50,000 people in over 30 countries voted in the recent Kalon Tripa and Chitue elections. Your overwhelming support is humbling and I will do my utmost to live up to your expectations.”
“I view my election as an affirmation of the far-sighted policies of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and another important step towards the realization of his vision of a truly democratic Tibetan society. I believe the success of the recent Kalon Tripa and Chitue elections and the active participation of the Tibetans in the elections is a significant moral victory,” he said.
“I want to express my sincere appreciation and extend my deepest support to the people in Tibet who continue to show tremendous courage even in the most difficult of situations. Our hearts and minds are steadfastly with them,” he said.
“I urge every Tibetan and friends of Tibet to join me in our common cause to alleviate the suffering of Tibetans in occupied Tibet and to return His Holiness to his rightful place in the Potala Palace,” he added.
Dr Lobsang Sangay grew up in Lama Hatta Tibetan settlement and attended the Central School for Tibetans in Sonada and Darjeeling. He completed his B.A. (Honors) and LLB from St Joseph’s College and Delhi University respectively. In 1992, he was elected as the executive member of the Tibetan Youth Congress. He regularly visits Dharamsala and interacts with officials of the Central Tibetan Administration.
In 1996, as a Fulbright Scholar, he obtained Masters degree and in 2004, Doctorate in Law from Harvard Law School, the first Tibetan to receive this degree and his dissertation, Democracy and History of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile from 1959-2004 was awarded the Yong K. Kim’ 95 Prize for Excellence.
As expert on international law, democratic constitution, and contemporary China, Dr Sangay he has spoken at various international conferences. He became a key figure for the well-known media organisations such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The BBC, Time Magazine, Newsweek etc. Moreover, he organised seven major conferences among Chinese, Tibetan, Indian and Western scholars including two historic meeting between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Chinese scholars in 2003, and in 2009 at Harvard University.
In 2007, he was selected as one of the twenty-four Young Leaders of Asia by the Asia Society and a delegate to the World Justice Forum in Vienna, Austria, where top legal experts and judges from around the world congregate.
In 2008, he testified as an expert before the US Senate Foreign Relations Sub-committee on East Asia and Pacific Affairs, along with the United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.
As a gesture of his gratitude to the Central Tibetan Administration under the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he supports over 2,000 Tibetan children in CTSA schools through Tibetan Nutritional Project.
