DHARAMSALA, Sept 22: The Tibetan government in exile would become more democratic in its elections in future with the Tibetan spiritual and temporal head, the Dalai Lama, proposing to have major amendments in the constitution on the basis of three options in the on going session of assembly of Tibetan people's deputies in Dharamsala.According to official sources, the Dalai Lama has tabled a memorandum suggesting a change in the election process for Kashag - the apex body of the Central Tibetan Administration, subordinate to the Dalai Lama- and the post of Kashag chairman. He wants to develop a fullfledged democratic system for the Tibetan community in the years to come.The memorandum proposes to have three members (who would be members of Tibetan parliament) nominated by the Dalai Lama, out of which one would be elected to the post of Kashag chairman (cabinet chairman) by the assembly, which comprises 46 MPs in all, against the current practice of choosing the Kashag chairman from amongst the eight members Kashag (elected by the assembly) itself.As per the new idea, the thus elected Kashag chairman would then nominate a list of 14 candidates from the assembly, out of which seven Kalons (ministers of Kashag members) would be finally elected by the assembly members.Even as the present trend has been to elect the Kashag through voting by the assembly members only, the Dalai Lama has given a second option of widening the base of the electorate. So, all the representatives of the local assemblies in Tibetan settlements in India and abroad including the non-government organizations would form an association for electoral college and together with the assembly members, this electoral college would directly elect the Kashag. Under this system, the Kashag chairman would be the one with the largest number votes to his credit while being chosen as a Kalon.The Kashag chairman is elected for a term of one year in the five year tenure of the assembly of Tibetan people's deputies. Instead of having the chairman by rotation every year, the Dalai Lama floated the idea to have a permanent Kashag chairman for one term of the assembly in his memorandum to make a single person accountable for government activities in continuity.While 43 members of the assembly of Tibetan people's deputies are directly elected by the exiled Tibetan population, three are nominated by the Dalai Lama. The Kashag looks after seven major departments, including education, finance, religion and culture, security, home, health and information and international relations.However, there is no party system as yet in the Tibetan election process, which include elections from three traditional provinces of Tibet, four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon Faith. The Dalai Lama had been making sustained efforts to encourage Tibetans to come out with proposals to alter the political set-up in Tibetan democracy.An official spokesman of the Tibetan government in exile, Thuptan Samphel said the memorandum put forward by the Dalai Lama was a historical step to make the functioning of the Kashag more democratic and accountable.
