The Tibetan Election Commission in-exile has officially announced the commencement of the electoral process of the 2021 General Elections of 'Sikyong' (political leader/ president) of central Tibetan administration and members of the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.
Chief Election Commissioner, Wangdue Tsering told that the registration process of the Tibetan voters will start from September 1 and it may continue till the end of October 2020.
"The registration process for voters was supposed to be done by April but now all registrations should start from September 1, which may continue till October. We have also started voter education programmes where we are introducing posters, mation films and short films as well," Tsering told .
The election commission has also made provisions of punishment for negative campaigning during these elections. A candidate can be declared ineligible to contest and to vote for up to eight years if found guilty of negative campaigning or in violation of election rules.
As per the announcement, the Regional Election Commissions, the Registration Officers, and the general voters are requested to follow the voter's registration process as per the election rules and regulations and the guidelines.
All those who fulfil the conditions laid down in Article 18 (4) are eligible to vote. As per the provisions of Article 18 (4), any Tibetan citizen who completed 18 years of age on October 31, 2020 are eligible to register. However, those who fall under the category of people specified in Article 18 (5) are disqualified from voter registration.
As per Article 18 (a) and (b) of election rules and regulations, after examining the Green Book payment details of all those who have attained the age of 18, the Registration Officer shall then register them as per their constituency, stamp their Green Book with a registration number beginning from a single digit 1 and signed by the Registration Officer.
Voter's registration shall begin on September 1, 2020 and must conclude by October 15, 2020.
All registered voters as per law must have paid their Green Book dues up to March 31, 2020.
"Since voter registration is extremely important, we urge all Tibetan people who are eligible to vote to kindly register within the given time," he added.
Despite the ongoing socio-economic and political crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Election Commissioner appealed to Tibetans around the world for their complete participation in the polls and to promote free, fair and credible election.
( With inputs from ANI )
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