DMK AND CONGRESS PREVAIL IN TAMIL NADU AS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENNAI 000969 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PINR IN SUBJECT: DMK AND CONGRESS PREVAIL IN TAMIL NADU AS JAYALALITHAA EXITS THE SCENE FOR NOW REF: CHENNAI 0873 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. SUMMARY: (SBU) The DMK-alliance, led by 82 year old ¶M. Karunanidhi, won a closer than normal Tamil Nadu state assembly election and will set up Tamil Nadu's first minority government in memory. Their victory was assured by a cohesive coalition of parties with Congress making an especially strong showing. Aside from the AIADMK party which lost power, other losers in the election were MDMK leader Vaiko and the BJP party which won an almost invisible two percent of the vote. Business leaders are generally positive about the outlook for a good business climate in the state under the new administration. END SUMMARY. -------------- THE FINAL TALLY -------------- ¶2. (U) In the contest for 234 Tamil Nadu assembly seats, the final tally of seats won by each alliance is as follows: DMK Alliance - 163 AIADMK Alliance - 69 Others - 2 The DMK alliance won 45 percent of the final vote while the AIADMK alliance won 40 percent. The DMK party, to assure cohesiveness of its coalition, was generous in pre-campaign negotiations with alliance partners, giving them large numbers of winnable seats to contest, and by doing so, almost assuring that the DMK itself would be unable to win the 118 seats required for a majority. DMK made a good show, winning 96 of the 132 seats it contested but, as expected, fell far short of having a majority of its own. -------------- DMK WILL LEAD A MINORITY GOVERNMENT -------------- ¶3. (SBU) For the first time since Dravidian parties entered the scene of Tamil Nadu politics in the 1960s, Tamil Nadu will have a minority government, led by DMK party veteran M. Karunanidhi, and supported from outside the government by election allies the Congress, PMK, CPI(M),and CPI parties. Given the numbers of seats won by each party (DMK - 96, Congress - 34, PMK - 18, CPI(M) - 13, CPI - 10),the DMK and Congress have a comfortable majority in the 234 seat assembly without the other partners, and some Tamil Nadu Congress party leaders openly expressed disappointment at not being coalition partners in the government with the DMK, rather than supporting from the outside. But from the viewpoint of the national Congress party, it makes more sense to support from the outside to assure that the DMK remains dependent upon their support and to assure that local Congress party officials remain loyal to the Congress and not be subsumed by the DMK. The Congress position in Tamil Nadu will be not unlike that of the CPI (M) position in the center: supporting from the outside and in doing so, hoping to have influence on policy direction. Significantly, given the numbers of seats each party holds, DMK could still maintain its majority without the Congress party with the help of its other coalition parties the PMK, CPI(M) and CPI. -------------- WHY THE DMK COALITION WON -------------- ¶4. (SBU) There were three primary drivers of the DMK- led victory. First and foremost was the coalition itself. Based on historic voting patterns, the DMK coalition had an almost insurmountable edge from the start. The final results were very close to those forecast by DMK strategist Sivaprakasam in a pre- election meeting with Post (Reftel). Clearly there remains in Tamil Nadu a strong tendency to vote along traditional caste, religious or social group lines. The second factor was the aggressive party manifesto, full of promises of free rice, free television sets and other giveaways, issued by the DMK. The bold DMK manifesto seized the momentum from the AIADMK early in CHENNAI 00000969 002 OF 003 the campaign and AIADMK was never able to recover. The third factor, still present but perhaps less influential in this election, was the traditional anti- incumbency factor. The two major Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu have tended to alternate in power for more than twenty years now. -------------- WHY JAYALALITHAA LOST -------------- ¶5. (SBU) But the AIADMK's loss wasn't all the DMK's doing. Some of AIADMK Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's actions during her term in office came back to haunt her in the election. Post-election statistics show that Christians and Muslims voted for the DMK in overwhelming numbers. Under Jayalalithaa's leadership, Tamil Nadu instituted an Anti-Conversion Act in 2002. After the disastrous results for the AIADMK in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Jayalalithaa repealed the act but leaders of these religious minorities didn't forget and urged their followers to vote for DMK. The almost 200,000 state government employees that Jayalalithaa fired in early 2004, only to later reinstate, didn't forget either. And finally, there was Vaiko, the charismatic MDMK leader who quit the DMK alliance in dramatic fashion to join with AIADMK just before the campaign started. After initial enthusiasm for his bold move, voters seemed to question Vaiko's motives and integrity, especially since he had been jailed by Jayalalithaa for 19 months only three years before. In the end, he brought little to the AIADMK coalition, winning just six seats. -------------- OTHERS WINNERS: CONGRESS, VIJAYKANT -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The Congress party made a strong showing in the elections, winning 34 of the 48 seats they contested. While they remain far behind the two major Dravidian parties, the DMK and AIADMK, in popularity (they won only 8 percent of the total vote),they have established themselves as clearly the third most significant party in the state and have demonstrated that they can win in targeted constituencies. Also winning 8 percent of the total vote was surprising newcomer Vijaykant. He contested 232 seats compared to Congress' 48 so his 8 percent total is not as impressive as that of Congress, but he demonstrated his appeal as an alternative to the traditional Dravidian parties. This self-characterization as an alternative to the traditional parties was well received by the voters and he may be a force in the future of Tamil Nadu politics. -------------- OTHER LOSERS: VAIKO, BJP -------------- ¶7. (SBU) "Charismatic" has been a common adjective used to describe MDMK leader Vaiko but some of that charisma was definitely lost in this campaign. Vaiko's MDMK party won only 6 of 35 seats it contested and won about 6 percent of the vote. More significant for Vaiko personally, though, was his loss of credibility. Many voters viewed him as an unprincipled opportunist when he left the DMK alliance to join hands with Jayalalithaa who had imprisoned him in 2002. During the campaign, the DMK-controlled Sun TV Network frequently replayed a speech Vaiko made upon his release from prison in which he railed against the "fascist Jayalalithaa government." The effect was not positive for either Jayalalithaa or Vaiko. The other big loser was the BJP party. Never a strong presence in Tamil Nadu, the BJP sunk to a new low this election, winning none of the 225 seats it contested and just two percent of the total vote. -------------- U.S. BUSINESS' TAKE: POSITIVE -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Before the start of the election campaign, many U.S. businesses operating in the state told Post that their preference was for the status quo. They CHENNAI 00000969 003 OF 003 had worked effectively with the AIADMK government which they felt had generally maintained a positive business climate in the state. Now, with the reality of a DMK-led government, many feel that the business climate is likely to be equally as good or perhaps better under the new administration. They recognize that many of the foreign-owned businesses now operating in Tamil Nadu established themselves here under a previous DMK administration. They expect the business-friendly environment to continue and are hopeful that the new government will do better than the previous one with regard to infrastructure development. They base that hope on the fact that the local administration is now aligned with the party in power at the center rather than at odds with it. And they are especially optimistic about the fact that Tamil Nadu native, Union Finance Minister P. Chidambram, was so supportive of the DMK during the campaign, feeling that he may be in a position to positively influence infrastructure development in the state. ¶9. (SBU) COMMENT: Enthusiasm about the role that DMK leader Karunanidhi's grand-nephew and Union IT and Communication Minister Dayanithi Maran may take in development projects is more mixed. Maran proved to be a liability during the campaign when the Indian Express ran a story describing his arm-twisting tactics while representing the family business in negotiations with the Tata Group. Former MP and AIADMK spokesperson Dr. V. Maitreyan told Post that the DMK family business will now be involved in all new development in the state and demand their pound of flesh (or allocation of shares as is alleged in the Tata case). Others feel that Maran's influence in New Delhi can help the state. Both views may be partly correct. END COMMENT CANDADAI