ELECTIONS IN VIETNAM

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27735, 12 August 1955, Page 11

ELECTIONS IN VIETNAM

Diem Agrees “In Principle” (KX. Press Association —Copyright) WASHINGTON, August 10. The United State* Secretary of btate, Mr Dalles, said today that the Prime Minister of South Vietnam, Mr Nro Dinh Diem, agreed in principle to the idea of free elections to unify the state of Vietnam. Mr Dulles made this statement when asked at a press conference about the prospects for the opening of preliminary talks between South Vietnam and the Communist-con-trolled north looking towards the nation-wide elections called for nept year by the Indo-China Armistice Agreement. / Mr Dulles said that Mr Diem took the position—and he (Mr Dulles.) thought that it was correct—that as the South Vietnam Government did not sign the armistice agreement, he was not bound by its provisions. The armistice agreement was unpopular in South Vietnam and Mr Diem therefore did not want to seem to adopt a particular agreement which he had not signed, said Mr Dulles. But, he added, the idea of having free elections, if they could bring about a unification of the country, was one which was acceptable to the Prime Minister. v The United Press reported from Saigon that the Government of South Vietnam today in effect rejected Communist demands to begin talks for all-Indo-China elections next year. Mr Diem’s reply to a Note from Communist North Vietnam, on July 19, asking for a conference on the elections, said that no good purpose would be served by sucn discussions until the Communists permitted freedom in their area, the news agency said. “Mr Diem’s note left the door open for future contacts with the Vietminh in the north,” it said. “But it flatly reaffirmed his previous stand that his government was not bound by the Geneva Agreement which ended the Indo-China war last year,” It was also an apparent rejection of British, French and United States advice at least to make contact with the Communists.