Lobsang Sangay has been re-elected prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile in voting held last month. Sangay said that the election shows that Tibetans in exile “are practicing democracy, whereas China is not.”
- Tibetan election officials announced the result in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala, the headquarters of the government-in-exile.
- Sangay, 47, defeated his only rival, Penpa Tsering, receiving about 58 percent of the 58,740 votes cast.
- It was the second election since the Dalai Lama stepped down as head of the government-in-exile in 2011 to focus on his role as the Tibetans’ spiritual leader.
- Tibetans living in exile cast their votes in 40 countries.
- China says Tibet has historically been part of its territory since the mid-13th century, and the Communist Party has governed the Himalayan region since 1951. But many Tibetans say that they were effectively independent for most of their history, and that the Chinese government wants to exploit their resource-rich region while crushing their cultural identity.
- China doesn’t recognize the Tibetan government-in-exile, and hasn’t held any dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama since 2010.
- The Dalai Lama and his followers have been living in exile in Dharmsala since they fled Tibet after a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.
- Exiled Tibetan officials say at least 114 monks and laypeople have set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule over their homeland in the past five years, with most of them dying. U.S. government-backed Radio Free Asia puts the number of self-immolations at 144 since 2009.
