SOUTH INDIA VOTES FOR CHANGE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENNAI 000926 SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D C O P Y - PRECEDENCE UPGRADED SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PINR IN SUBJECT: SOUTH INDIA VOTES FOR CHANGE REF: (A) CHENNAI 0873 AND PREVIOUS, (B) CHENNAI 0848 AND PREVIOUS CHENNAI 00000926 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. SUMMARY: (U) In state assembly election results announced on May 11, incumbent governments in Tamil Nadu and Kerala lost to their traditional rivals. In the Union Territory of Pondicherry, the current Congress government won another term. END SUMMARY. -------------- TAMIL NADU RESULTS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Exit polls correctly predicted a win for the DMK party and its large coalition. In the vote counting for the 234-seat legislative assembly which was still incomplete at close of business, the number of seats won or leading by the two opposing coalitions are as follows: DMK COALITION DMK - 101 Congress - 34 PMK - 18 CPI(M) - 9 CPI - 6 TOTAL - 168 AIADMK COALITION AIADMK - 57 MDMK - 6 Others - 1 TOTAL - 64 With 118 seats required for a majority, Tamil Nadu will have a coalition or minority government for the first time in the history of Draviadian politics. The BJP party contested alone and again failed to engender enthusiasm for its candidates. BJP appears to have won not a single seat. Newcomer Vijaykant, the latest in south India's series of film stars turned politicians, and his DMDK party generated surprisingly strong voter support. Exit polls suggested he might win up to 10% of the total vote but because his votes were evenly spread across constituencies, his DMDK party has won just one seat. The remaining seat was won by an independent candidate. -------------- KERALA RESULTS -------------- ¶3. (U) In Kerala, the Communist Party-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) won a comfortable majority over the Congress-Indian Union Muslim League alliance (UDF),as expected. In a legislative assembly of 140 seats, the number of seats won by the two opposing coalitions are as follows: LDF (Communists and JDS) CPI(M) - 61 CPI - 17 JDS - 5 Others - 15 TOTAL - 98 UDF (Congress and IUML) Congress - 24 IUML - 7 KCM - 7 Others - 4 TOTAL - 42 -------------- PONDICHERRY RESULTS -------------- ¶4. (U) In the small Union Territory of Pondicherry the incumbent Congress government won another term. Seats won by the respective parties are as follows: Congress and partners - 21 CHENNAI 00000926 002.2 OF 002 AIADMK and partners - 9 ¶5. (U) Complete results and further analysis of the results will follow septel. HOPPER