Dharamshala: Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile elects three women as Cabinet ministers

On Tuesday, Tibetan lawmakers approved the appointment of three women Cabinet ministers (Kalons) in the first session of the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. The three women who have been elected as Cabinet ministers by the parliament are Dolma Gyari, Norzin Dolma and Tharlam Dolma Changra, according to ANI. The first session of the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile ended on Tuesday evening after two days of discussion.

Three women cabinet ministers

The Tibetan Cabinet (Kashag) had nominated seven members but the parliament approved only three members. The discussions in the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile included political and human rights situations in Tibet, according to ANI. Moreover, proposals for amendments to the Tibetan charter on the rules and regulations related to the nomination of Chief Justice Commissioner and Justice Commissioners were discussed during the parliament session. The eight official resolutions of obituary and mourning and one official resolution of solidarity with the Tibetan people suffering in Tibet were passed in the parliament. 

Speaking to news agency ANI, Dolma Tsering, Deputy Speaker of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile stated that as per the charter, they were required to elect seven Cabinet ministers. However, one of the female parliament members objected to all the candidates. Tsering added that the members cast their vote for each candidate and the three female candidates had a 50 per cent vote in their favour and hence their appointment as cabinet ministers was approved by the parliament.

"According to the charter, we are supposed to have seven Kalons to be elected. There were objections for all the candidates from one of the female parliament members, because of that; we had to cast our vote for each of them. The three female candidates for Kalons, all passed the 50 per cent mark, so they were elected," ANI quoted Dolma Tsering as saying. 

Earlier on 8 October, the elected members of the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-exile took oath from the Interim Speaker Dawa Tsering. According to ANI, the 44 members of Tibetan Parliament-in-exile elected Khenpo Sonam Tenphel and Dolma Tsering as the speaker and deputy speaker through voting. While speaking to the news agency, Dolma informed about the oath-taking ceremony of the speaker and the deputy speaker and said that Tenphel took oath as the Speaker and she was appointed as a deputy speaker. The oath-taking ceremony was held at the Tibetan Parliamentary Secretariat.

(With inputs from ANI)

Image: ANI