The () is the political leader of the

Central Tibetan Administration The Central Tibetan Administration (, , ), often referred to as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, is a non-profit political organization based in Dharamshala, India. Its organization is modeled after an elective parliamentary government, comp ...

, a

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

an exile organisation also known as the Tibetan

Government-in-Exile A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile ...

based on the 2011 Charter of Tibetans-in-exile. The title was created in 2012 after the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

decided not to assume any political and administrative authority as the head of the Tibetan Administration for Tibetans-in-exile. The current Sikyong is

Penpa Tsering Penpa Tsering () (born 1967) is a Tibetan politician. He is the second democratically elected Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration. He succeeded the last Sikyong Lobsang Sangay on 27 May 2021. Penpa Tsering was the speaker of the Parliam ...

. The Sikyong is the political leader of the Kashag, part of the executive branch of the Central Tibetan Administration. This office should not be confused with the " Chairman of the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region" (). The first directly elected

Kalön The Kashag (; ), was the governing council of Tibet during the rule of the Qing dynasty and post-Qing period until the 1950s. It was created in 1721, and set by Qianlong Emperor in 1751 for the Ganden Phodrang in the 13-Article Ordinance fo ...

Tripa was

Lobsang Tenzin Lobsang Tenzin, better known by the titles Professor Venerable Samdhong Rinpoche (zam gdong rin po che) and to Tibetans as the 5th Samdhong Rinpoche (born 5 November 1937), is a Tibetan Buddhist monk and politician who served as the Prime Min ...

, the

Samdhong Rinpoche () is a Tibetan religious title. ''Rinpoche Rinpoche, also spelled Rimboche and Rinboku (), is an honorific term used in the Tibetan language. It literally means "precious one", and may refer to a person, place, or thing—like the words "gem ...

, who was elected August 20, 2001. Based on the 13-Article Ordinance for the More Effective Governing of Tibet, Kashag should be composed of three temporal

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...

s and one monk official. Each of them held the title of ''Kalön'' (; ), should seek appointment from the Central Government. Before 2011, the Kalön Tripa position was subordinate to the

who presided over the government in exile from its founding. In 2011, the Dalai Lama announced that his political authority would be transferred to Sangay.

Kalön Tripa

On September 20, 2012, the 15th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile unanimously voted to change the title of Kalön Tripa to ''Sikyong'' in Article 19 of the Charter of the Tibetans in exile and relevant articles. The Dalai Lama had previously referred to the Kalon Tripa as Sikyong, and this usage was cited as the primary justification for the name change. According to ''Tibetan Review'', "Sikyong" translates to "political leader". The online Dharma Dictionary translates sikyong (''srid skyong'') as "secular ruler; regime, regent".

''Kalön Tripa''

Tibet

''Kashag''

''Sikyong''

References

External links

; Speech/transcription
Penpa Tsering sworn in as the Sikyong of 16th Kashag

Key note address by Dr. Lobsang Sangay, Kalon Tripa, Tibetan Government in Exile on 06 September 2011 at the VIF Seminar on Tibet
; Elections
Kalon Tripa election in 2011

Kalön Tripa 2011 election results
{{Tibetan elections Central Tibetan Administration