Penpa Tsering elected president of Tibetan exile government

The former speaker of Tibet’s parliament-in-exile, Penpa Tsering, has been elected the new president of the exile government

DHARMSALA, India -- Penpa Tsering, the former speaker of Tibet's parliament-in-exile, has been elected the new president of the exile government, the election commissioner announced Friday. He will succeed Lobsang Sangay, who completes his second five-year term at the end of May, Election Commissioner Wangdu Tsering said in Dharmsala, a northern Indian town where spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has been living since he fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. Nearly 64,000 Tibetans living in exile in India, Nepal, North America, Europe, Australia and elsewhere voted in the election, which was held in two rounds in January and April. It was the third direct election of the Tibetan exile leadership since the Dalai Lama withdrew from any political role in the running of the exile government in 2011.