Bid To Control Assembly In Vietnam Seen

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31097, 28 June 1966, Page 11

Bid To Control Assembly In Vietnam Seen

fN Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) SAIGON, June 26. The governing junta has embarked on a determined campaign designed to ensure that it will control—or at least dominate—the Constituent Assembly to be chosen in elections on September 11, writes R. W. Apple, of the “New York Times” news service. Apple writes: The first phase of the campaign has been completed: The creation of an election law that, in the opinion of disinterested analysts, is weighted in favour of the generals and against their principal opponents. The second phase is quietly under way behind the scenes, as the junta works to create a loose, temporary system of alliances that will help elect assembly delegates friendly to the rulers. Not Standing None of the generals plans to stand for election themselves, informed sources said yesterday, but they hope in the two weeks remaining before the filing deadline on July 11 to put together antiBuddhist, pro-Govemment slates in as many provinces as possible. At the moment, the sources said, the junta does not intend to label these slates as belonging to a “Government party,” because they do not wish to emphasise militarism. This decision is subject to change. Whether the Government’s strategy will work, and to what degree, cannot be said with any certainty. But it suggests again that the generals do not intend to relinquish power without a struggle. Some of the junta members may well seek election in the legislative balloting that is scheduled to take place some time in 1967. Premier Nguyen Cao Ky has chosen two of his colleagues on the junta—Lieu-tenant-General Pham Xuan Chieu, the secretary general of the ruling body, and MajorGeneral Nguyen Bao Tri, the

new political warfare minister—as his chief political lieutenants.

The role of Tri, who was recently replaced as commander of the 111 Army (Corps area, will be crucial. [He is soon to be named a “super-minister” with re-

sponsibility for those depart- | ments most involved In the ' election—justice, information ■ and interior.

Tri is loyal to Air Vice- ! Marshal Ky. I Vietnam’s pattern of religious. sectional and political divisions bodes ill for any ■ attempt to organise lasting political organisations in a short time. The Ky Government, aware of this, intends to concentrate on temporary measures.

In Thuathien province, for example, the junta is attempting to foster a coalition between the Dai Viet nationalists and the Roman Catholics. Thuathien, the province in which Hue is located, is a stronghold of Buddhist dissidence.

Thuathien is one of 25 constituencies that will elect two or more deputies each— 24 will elect one deputy each. ! In the multi-deputy areas, the law—drastically modified i by the Government from a draft submitted by a cornmis sion last month—call for a complicated system of proportional representation. An Example Here is a hypothetical example of the system: A province is entitled to four deputies, and five slates of four candidates each are en- ' tered. Individual candidates and incomplete slates are for--1 bidden by the law. The voters must choose one slate. They may not split tickets. Hypothetically the vote might be split as follows, with a total of 150,000 persons voting: slate A: 40,000; slate B: 10,000: slate C: 52,000; slate D: 30.000; slate E: 18,000. After the votes have been counted, an average is struck by dividing the total vote by the number of slates (in this case, the result is 30,000). Each slate with more than this figure is entitled to one deputy—the first man on the slate. Thus A, C and D get one vote each. The remaining seat goes to the second man on .slate C, because that slate’s (excess over 30,000 ( 22,000) is 'larger than the excess of A r D and also larger than the total votes for slates B and E. The point of this electoral process is to prevent one party or group—particularly the Buddhists—from sweeping all the seats in areas that they control. To a degree, according to

analysts here, this will work against the Government as well as the anti-Government Buddhists. But the Government has the advantage of being able to work through several groups, forming covert alliances.

Several other advantages accrue to the Government under the electoral law, including its control over district and province chiefs, who will be charged with administering the complex paperwork. The Government also may rule candidates ineligible because of Communist or neutralist inclinations.

The junta will also be able to decide where its armed forces will vote. There is nothing to prevent the junta, from moving a regiment into an area where its opponents are strong a few days or weeks before election day. Most United States and Vietnamese officials will '-t pleased if four million persons vote. The country's population is approximately 15 million, but more than half is below the legal voting age, and others are in Communistheld areas.