At a press conference in Delhi on Tuesday, Geshe Yungdrung Gyaltsen, the president of Dokham Chushi Gangdruk, announced three candidates in the upcoming elections for the next Tibetan Prime Minister and twenty nominees for the members of the 15th Tibetan Parliament.
Sonam Topgyal, Lobsang Jinpa and Ngaba Tsegyam were nominated for the post of Tibetan Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa). Out of the 20 nominations of Dotoe Members of the Parliament, Urgyen Topgyal Rinpoche, Sonam Topgyal and Markham Dakpa withdrew their candidancy, according to Geshe Gyaltsen.
The elections for the Kalon Tripa will be held in September 2011.
In 2000, Tibetan exile leader, the Dalai Lama called for a directly elected Prime Minister by the Tibetan people. Samdong Rinpoche was elected as the first Kalon Tripa of the exile government in 2001 and was re-elected in 2006.
The election of the second Prime Minister of the Tibetan exile government is observed as a significant episode in the Tibetan democracy.
Dharamsala is the seat of the Tibetan government in-exile and also the base of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, ever since he fled from Lhasa in 1959, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
