The Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies on Friday approved a resolution by a 33-1 vote to advise the Dalai Lama to continue to serve as the political and spiritual leader of the government-in-exile.
Assembly Speaker Penpa Tsering said the body would send the resolution to the Dalai Lama’s office, and if the Dalai Lama asked to hold consultations on the matter, they would “enter into the next round of discussions.”
The Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies on Friday continued to debate four proposals worked out in a closed-door meeting on Thursday related to the Dalai Lama’s announcement that he would relinquish his position as Tibet’s political leader.
Penpa Tsering said the assembly passed three resolutions after Friday’s meeting, among them one expressing the hope that the Dalai Lama would continue to serve as the political and spiritual leader of the government-in-exile.
The assembly also resolved that Tibet was now walking toward a democracy that met the needs of the Tibetan people and that the Dalai Lama had pursued over the past five decades.
The other successful resolution said that Tibetan citizens had yet to live up to the expectations of the Dalai Lama and would work harder to meet them and shoulder their responsibility.
The second and third -resolutions were passed unanimously by all 34 parliamentarians, excluding the speaker and the deputy speaker, who are not allowed to vote according to procedure.
A fourth resolution, to form a special task force to revise the government-in-exile’s charter and related laws, was rejected by a 21-13 vote.
A parliamentarian who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue said the resolution asking the Dalai Lama to stay on was bound to be rejected after it was sent to his office.
The Dalai Lama announced on March 10 that he would relinquish his political role to a popularly elected leader.
“My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility. It is to benefit Tibetans in the long run,” he said at the time.
The 75-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate reaffirmed his decision to quit on Thursday, saying that he would give a definite “no” to any request that he stay on to lead the government-in-exile.
In related news, Tibetans living in Taiwan will today cast their votes to elect their new prime minister to head the government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India, Dawa Tsering, chairman of the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama — the de facto embassy of the exiled government in Taiwan — told the Taipei Times.
The vote will take place at poll stations in Taipei and Taoyuan today from 10am to 2pm, he said.
Although there are more than 300 Tibetans living in Taiwan, only 44 are eligible to vote in the election today, Dawa said, adding that Tibetans living in exile have to pay taxes annually to the exiled government and they must have register before a set deadline to be eligible to vote.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LOA IOK-SIN
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