Assembly Elects new Chair and Vice Chair
15 March, 2002
DHARAMSALA, 15 March 2002 – On the first day of the 3rd Session of the 13th Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies (ATPD), the Deputies elected Mr Pema Jungney as the Chairman and Ms Dolma Gyari as the new Vice-Chairperson of the exile parliament.
Mr Pema Jungney after receiving secondary education from Central Schools for Tibetans in Shimla, joined the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Varanasi, where he studied Buddhism, Sanskrit, Tibetan literature and attained an Acharya degree (equivalent to Masters).
His first step into Tibetan political arena was his election to the 10th ATPD as a Sakya representative in 1986, and was re-elected to the 11th Assembly. Mr. Pema is one of the longest serving deputies.
He takes over from Mr Karma Choephel, who held the post of Chairman for a six-month interim period. Mr. Pema Jungney won with a margin of 25 votes against former Chair Karma Choephel, who got 18 votes.
Ms Dolma Gyari was re-elected today as the Vice-Chairperson of the exile parliament. She was earlier elected to the Assembly as one of the deputies from the Dotoe (Kham) province.
Ms Gyari won by a margin of 32 votes against U-Tsang representative Namgyal Wangdu, who got only 3 votes.
Ms Gyari after completing her education from Darjeeling Central Schools for Tibetans, did her Bachelor in Arts in Political Science from Chandigarh, Punjab.
She was elected to the 11th ATPD as a Dotoe representative in 1991, 12th ATPD in 1996 and again re-elected to the 13th ATPD in 2001.
The swearing in ceremony of the new members before His Holiness the Dalai Lama will take place sometime later.