Johnson Warned Ky Not To Have Rigged Election

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31448, 15 August 1967, Page 15

Johnson Warned Ky Not To Have Rigged Election

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright!

WASHINGTON, August 13.

President Johnson warned South Vietnam’s military government last month that a rigged presidential election there would cost their country the support of the American people, one of the President’s envoys said today, the Associated Press reported.

Mr Clark Clifford said he and General Maxwell Taylor, acting on behalf of the President, carried that message to South Vietnam’s Chief of State, General Nguyen Van Thieu, a candidate for President, and the Prime Minister, Air Vice-Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky, his Vice-Presidential running mate.

In Saigon, one of the civilian candidates running for President in next month’s election said today that the United States should intervene and force the ruling generals to resign. United Press International reported.

“Otherwise there is no chance of an honest election,” said Mr Ha Thue Ky, an engineer regarded as the third-ranking civilian candid“If the generals stay in power during the campaign they will go on cheating and using their Government positions to unfair advantage, and there will be no way to stop them,” he said. Discussing President Johnson’s warning, Mr Clifford said: “We took a personal

message from President John- that the Government Is insistson to Ky and Thieu on this ent on an honest election, subject and said, as bluntly as “So they are making every it can be- said, that if there effort, under the. conditions of was any one act on their part the war, to obtain conditions which would be calculated to where campaigning is pos alienate the American people, sible and with a maximum it would be to have a rigged participation of the voters, election in South Vietnam,” the Associated Press said. wweewwerrreerrrrrt

“It is my private view,” he added, “that they will do all in their power to make them fair and honest elections, because I think they understand very clearly the result that will take place in this country in the loss of support for South Vietnam if they are not that way.” A remark by Air ViceMarshal Ky recently that the ruling military junta would overturn any government which won the election by fraud prompted outcries from some leaders in Congress. Kennedy’s Claim Senator Robert Kennedy claimed the junta was making a fraud and a farce of the election. Mr Clifford and General Taylor also visited leaders of other nations defending South Vietnam.

The two envoys appeared together today on the Columbia Broadcasting System radio-television programme “Face The Nation.”

General Taylor, asked about Senator Kennedy’s charge, said: “All the evidence Mr Clifford and I saw indicates

“This is tough going, I must say, under the conditions of Sout|i Vietnam.” South Vietnam's military regime sent the civilian candidates a letter today declaring that the military Government would try to meet demands for chartered Air Vietnam planes for campaign tours in the provinces. United Press International reported. The letter also agreed to a request by the civilians that the Government also organise outdoor voter rallies instead of indoor meetings. The candidates charged that the military candidates would pack indoor rallies with their own supporters. Mr Ky, aged 48, made his statement in an interview after demands by some United States Congressmen that the United States pull out of South Vietnam if the junta did not guarantee a campaign free of corruption and an honest election on September 3. He charged the Prime Minister and General Thieu with using “all kind of intimidation and pressures” to assure an election victory for themselves. He said the United States should intervene and make General Thieu and Air ViceMarshal Ky step down from the Government’s positions during the election campaign. Mr Ky said he thought the other civilian candidates supported him in the request for United States intervention.