Gyari Dolma withdraws from 2011 Tibet general elections

Dharamsala, Dec 25 (ANI): Gyari Dolma, the deputy speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile, has withdrawn her candidature from the general elections scheduled for March next year.

Gyari was the only woman candidate along with five others short-listed by the Tibetan Election Commission after the preliminary rounds.

"There is a huge gap in the number of votes that I have actually received. And when I look at the difference of my votes in the nomination round, then that of the first and second candidate, I do feel very strongly that the public has given them the mandate for the run," she said.

Gyari also said that the Tibetan constitution lacks proper election guidelines.

"My aim is to at least to continuing my present position, and trying to contribute as much as possible to the democratic process, and looking into the whole elections that we have today so that in the future, it would be with more clarity," she added.

The candidates short-listed by the Election Commission include Lobsang Sangay, Tenzin Namgyal Tethong, Dolma Gyari, Tashi Wangdi, Lobsang Jinpa and Sonam Topgyal.

Sangay received a good number of 22,489 votes against his closest opponent Tenzin Tethong Namgyal, who secured 12,319 votes, while Gyari got 2,733 votes.

Lobsang Jinpa had already withdrawn from the elections, while Sonam Topgyal, the former Prime Minister, had opted out from the electoral fray soon after the results of the preliminaries were out.

This year, a total of 79,449 Tibetans have registered their names in the voting list, out of which nearly 47,000 have cast their votes.

The first round of general elections took place in the first week of October this year, while the final round will be held on March 20, 2011. (ANI)