New political leader for Tibet

The Dalai Lama. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Legal expert Lobsang Sangay has been elected head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, taking over the Dalai Lama's political role. Chief election commissioner Jamphel Choesang said last night Sangay received 55 per cent of the votes cast by tens of thousands of Tibetans around the world.

The Dalai Lama has said he would give up politics but will remain the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader.

The change, yet to be written into the exile constitution, reverses 300 years of tradition in which the top monk also guided the Tibetan government. Sangay, a senior fellow at Harvard Law School, has said if elected he would move to the northern Indian town of Dharmsala, where the parliament-in-exile is based.