An exit poll Sunday gave the moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) as the winner of regional elections in the northern Spanish region, saying outgoing Prime Minister Juan Jose Ibarretxe's party was leading with 40 per cent of the vote. The PNV would thus remain short of the absolute majority it had hoped would force the Spanish government into negotiations about a status of virtual independence for the autonomous region of 2.1 million. The small Communist Party of Basque Lands (PCTV) reaped 11 per cent of the vote, nearly as much as the outlawed radical separatist party Batasuna, which had called on its supporters to vote for the PCTV. Voter turnout was estimated at nearly 70 per cent. About 1.8 million people were eligible to elect 75 MPs for the regional parliament in Vitoria.
