The National Conference is imposed at the polls in Kashmir

New Delhi, December 28 (EFE). - The National Conference of Kashmiri nationalism has made ​​victory in regional elections, whose results were known today, but fell short of an absolute majority and will need support from other forces.
"We have no doubt we will be the biggest party, but we have to see how close we were to the magical barrier of an absolute majority," said this week in an interview with Efe the candidate and party president Omar Abdullah.
Abdullah was right in his prediction: the NFC has won 28 seats, followed by the nationalist Democratic Party with 21, the pan-Indian Congress Party (17) and the radical Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, which give a jump to 11 seats.
With the majority located in 45 seats, the only possibility for the winning party, which maintains its 2002 result is agree with any of the other forces, including the Congress Party seems best placed.
"We will talk formally with them tomorrow to form an alliance and tomorrow will come to power in the region," said the press today and Abdullah after learning the results.
The last legislature, held by a partnership of Congress and the Democratic Party, ended this summer so troubled by the crisis of the temple of Amarnath, which led to rioting by Hindus and Muslims.
The Government decided to grant land to an agency for pilgrimages to the Hindu temple, sparking protests among Muslims, a subsequent reversal of the decision, and subsequent demonstrations among the Hindus of Jammu.
This polarization is the reason that analysts cited to explain the dramatic results achieved by the radical Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, which happen to have 11 deputies, compared to the only seat won in 2002.
His promotion, exclusively in the Hindu area reveals the existence of a "community vote" (in terms of religion) and the differences between the valley of Kashmir, Muslim and pro-independence stronghold, and the southern Indian areas, of Jammu.
"We have reason to be pleased with the results of Jammu and Kashmir. We have done very well in Jammu and we had our best result. Will play a role of national opposition in the Assembly, "the leader Arun Jaitley said the Indian agency PTI.
The 2008 elections were the least violent of the last two decades in this region of northern India which Pakistan also claims sovereignty, and also counted with a share of 61.5 percent, almost 20 points more than in 2002.
The separatist Hurriyat Conference had urged a boycott of the elections, but follow your call was limited to the Kashmiri capital, Srinagar, where only 20 percent of the electorate exercised their vote.
While Hurriyat has recognized that the results should serve to reflect, their leaders while irregularities reported: cases, mainly of fake voters and votes forced by security forces in rural areas.
India is estimated at 800 insurgents remain active in the region, scene of several wars and disputed and deal with Pakistan after independence and partition of the subcontinent in 1947.
However, in the Kashmiri territory are deployed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and forcefully used by the authorities to frequent curfews to control calls to the strike and protests by separatists.
In a moderate line, the National Conference advocates greater autonomy for the region "on both sides of the border."
"India and Pakistan would be responsible for only three or four things: money, communications, defense and foreign affairs. It is said that borders can not be redesigned, but we can make them irrelevant, "Abdullah told Efe.
The nationalist parties had detached themselves the election of the struggle for independence, and had focused on development proposals, better roads, more schools, after two decades of conflict in this region of ten million people.

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Thematic area:

1. Regional elections end with less violence in Kashmir
2. Indian Kashmir voting begins for the Assembly, with separatist boycott
3. Indian Kashmir morning full process to renew the Regional Assembly
4. India and Pakistan open historic trade routes in Kashmir
5. Kashmir, life under curfew