South Vietnam votes

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32703, 4 September 1971, Page 16

South Vietnam votes

South Vietnam’s election last week-end for 159 members of the Legislative Assembly, or Lower House, appears to have produced something to please almost everybody. Although the final results will not be known until next week it is clear that President Thieu’s supporters will again have a majority in the House; but it will be reduced, and enough new men, some of them strong opponents of the President, have been elected to ensure an Opposition that can bark, even if it has little bite. Nearly 80 per cent of the electorate voted; and while the President’s critics are-complaining of instances of fraud and rigged polling these seem to have been so few as to have had little influence on the result. Viet Cong attacks during the polling reached their highest level for four months, showing that the Communists still have considerable capacity in South Vietnam but not enough to wreck ah election. Important as these elections have been as a test both of popular feeling and of the Administration’s will and ability to conduct an honest election, the most important result will be the effect on potential candidates in the Presidential election in October. The size of the vote for the President’s supporters should have convinced him that he is in no danger of ignominious defeat if other candidates run against him on October 3. At the same time, the poll appears to have been honest enough, and the anti-Thieu vote big enough, to convince the two candidates who have withdrawn that they would have some hope of success. President Thieu would be foolish to go ahead now with an election in which he is the only effective candidate; General Minh and Vice-President Ky would be equally foolish to persist in their refusal to stand against him.