S. VIETNAM SENATE Buddhists Gain Most Votes

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32391, 2 September 1970, Page 17

S. VIETNAM SENATE Buddhists Gain Most Votes

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter— Copyright; SAIGON, September 1. A slate backed by the antiGovernment An Quang Buddhist faction led the polls in the South Vietnamese Senate elections, the Armed Forces Radio announced today.

The radio said that the total was unofficial, but taken from complete results of the country’s 44 provinces and six cities. It showed a solidly proGovernment slate in second place and an independentminded group which generally supports the Government third.

Although observers believed that the Government was not unhappy to see 10 senators aligned with the An Quang faction enter the Senate, it was considered a blow to the Administration’s prestige to have them lead the poll. The 160 candidates for Sunday’s voting were organised into 16 slates, the top three in a nation-wide poll providing the 30 new members of the 60-seat Upper House. The winning slates, as listed by the radio were:— The Lotus Flower—led by a former Foreign Minister. Mr Vu Van Mau, and backed by the An Quang faction—l,l4B,o7B. The Sun—led by Senator Huynh Van Cao, a former Army major-general—--1,106,980. The White Lily—headed by the present chairman of the Senate, Mr Nguyen van Huyen—BB2,Bl7. Fourth place went to The House, a slate dominated by former supporters of the late President, Ngo Dinh Diem, which won 798,716 votes. There was no immediate indication from the National Electoral Council when the results would be officially announced.

Red Cross Hits At Vietnams

(N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright) GENEVA, Sept. 1. The president of the International Red Cross Committee yesterday sharply criticised the Governments of both South and North Vietnam over their treatment of prisoners. In an unusually outspoken address the chief of the allSwiss committee, Mr Marcel Naille, told an international conference of pharmacists: “It is deeply regrettable that South Vietnam grants only a small portion of its detainees the status of prisoner of war and only authorises with many restrictions visits by delegates of the International Red Cross to the rest

“It is equally deplorable that North Vietnam refuses any intervention by the Red Cross in favour of its prisoners and does not even agree to give a list of names.”

He also made a pointed indirect reference to the Soviet Union when he criticised governments who counter “silent opposition” by methods including the use of “psychiatric asylums.”