(TibetanReview.net, Jun02’26) – The first session of the 18th Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE) began today with the confirmation of six nominees for posts of Kalon (minister) proposed by Sikyong Penpa Tsering to constitute the 17th Kashag (cabinet) of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). One was confirmed unanimously and the rest by majority votes by the 45 members of the TPiE.
All the Kalons are new, with one woman.
Four of them are current employees of the CTA – Mr Palden Dhondup (unanimous), Secretary of the Department of Home; Mr Tsegyal Chukya Dranyi (30-14), the Kashag Secretary; Mr Tsering Dhondup Gyangser (33-11), Secretary of the Department of Finance; and Mr Kunga Tashi (29-15), Tibetan Liaison Officer at the Office of Tibet, Washington, DC and a former CTA Secretary.
They have been joined by Ms Pema Tso (30-13), two-term TPiE member and Editor-in-Chief of the Tibetan-language Tibet Times fortnightly; and Mr Ugyen Tenzin (24-20), former TPiE member and former Dharamshala Bureau Chief of the Voice of America (VOA) Tibetan Service.
The confirmation of Ms Pema Tso, a current TPiE member, means that Mr Tashi Dhondup will become a member of the current TPiE under the current CTA rules. He won the highest number of votes among the Domey candidates who did not make it to the TPiE during the recent elections. He was a member of the 17th TPiE.