KEEPING ABREAST OF S. VIETNAM EVENTS

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31060, 16 May 1966, Page 10

KEEPING ABREAST OF S. VIETNAM EVENTS

Gi.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright) WASHINGTON, May 15. The following guide to Vietnamese political campaigning has been designed for those who wish to keep abreast of developments in the forthcoming elections in South Vietnam, by the “New York Times” correspondent, Russell Baker.l

El'ction day.— There almost certainly will be an election day. It may possibly occur one day in late summer. It is still uncertain whether bars will be closed. Black markets will be open. Electioneering.— No electioneering will be permitted within 500 ft of the polling place, unless the poll watchers have been shot.

Who may vote.— Those eligible to vote include: (1) All generals with numbered bank accounts in Switzerland. (2) Any individual with enough firepower to force his way into the polling place. (3) Members of mobs large enough to burn down the polling place if denied the right to vote.

Ballots.— ln all likelihood, there will be a ballot. This is too bad because it will almost certainly confuse everybody. (For explanation see “twoparty system.”) Anyone caught stuffing the ballot box without approval of the poll watchers will be strung up by the heels and dipped in water unless he has first secured himself behind machine-gun emplacements. Stolen ballot boxes will not be counted if they show a heavy vote for candidates opposed by the vote counters. What is at stake.—Candidates who win the election will be officially judged to have been officially elected. It has not yet been decided, however, what they will have been elected to.

General Ky and Secretary of State Dean Rusk are now trying to get together on this point. If they reach a decision it will be a miracle. The two-party system.— South Vietnam does not have the two-party system. Instead, it uses the two-church system (Buddhists v. Roman Catholics), the 10-general system,

the three-city system (Saigon v. Da Nang v. Hue), and the three - superpower system (China v. Russia v. the United States).

System to checks and balances.—Like the United States, South Vietnam has evolved a system of checks and balances to protect the minority from the excesses of the majority. Theirs is simpler than the Americans. It works like this: Whenever a Government in power threatens the right of the Army minority to run the country, the Army throws out the Government and holds power until new nominating riots can be held. The nominating riot.—Being great admirers of the American political system, the Vietnamese sent observers to the American nominating conventions of 1964 and 1960 to advise their countrymen how things should be done.

The result is the nominating riot. This colourful and exuberant event sends large insensate masses whooping through the streets rather like 10,000 Democrats turned loose in Chicago for a week without their wives. It ends with the nomination of a leading Vietnamese statesman for deportation. The winning candidate then goes off to some place pleasant, such as the Riveria. The loser must go to the presidential palace and wait until the Army throws him out or until new nominating riots give him a second shot at winning the Riveria. Issues.— The big issue is the war. One faction wants to surrender the country to the Communists. A second wants to throw out the Americans and try to muddle through. The third wants to continue the war in the present fashion.