Viet Cong Defied As Voters Go To Polls

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31162, 12 September 1966, Page 13

Viet Cong Defied As Voters Go To Polls

(2i.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) SAIGON, Sept. 11. Thousands of South Vietnamese defied a Viet Cong terror campaign today by going to the polls to elect a constituent assembly.

There was a steady stream of voters after polling stations opened this morning around Saigon; Da Nang, near the United States air base; and Can Tho, in the Mekong river delta.

Voters at the Tan Viet polling station, just outside Saigon, were undeterred by a grenade blast early today and 50 people entered the booth in the first 15 minutes.

Crowds of people filled the streets of Da Nang and queues formed outside many of the polling stations. Officials reported that between 19 and 45 per cent of voters cast their ballots in towns and cities in the first three hours of the election.

The highest percentage was recorded in the province of An Xuyen, in the Viet Congdominated southern-most tip of the country. At Can Tho, where 8000 people went to the polls in the first hour, many were middle-aged and appeared to have hardly any knowledge of election procedure. However, three people interviewed there, a bus driver; a barber and a soldier’s wife, all said they not only knew the names of their chosen candidates but also had known them for a long time and considered them good men. They said they did not fear Viet Cong retaliation for their voting. At Hue, voting was reported to be heavy. Viet Cong bands struck five times around the city two hours after the stations opened. hitting two hamlets and

three outposts with mortar and small-arms fire. There were at least 20 attacks on outposts and watch-tow-ers in the region yesterday—a sharp increase over the daily average of about three incidents. There was no indication of

any noticeable success for the Viet Cong’s broadcast threat to “smash the election farce” or for the Buddhist call for a boycott. At Da Nang, several Buddhist monks and nuns went on a 24-hour hunger strike pro-

testing against the election, but apparently aroused little interest among the townspeople. In Saigon, police fired in the air in a main street to disperse a crowd of about 100 Buddhist monks and nuns who were beginning to stage a demonstration against the election. A Government spokesman reported that Viet Cong guerrillas carried out 12 terrorist acts in Saigon and 78 in the rest of South Vietnam between 6 p.m. last night and S a.m. this morning. The 568 candidates are competing for 117 seats in a constituent Assembly intended to write a new constitution to be submitted to the military junta .headed by General Ky. Most of the candidates are not running on party lists, although many are associated with two Right wing groups, the anti-Buddhist Nationalist Party and the extreme antiCommunist Dai Viet.