U.S. Encouraged by Vote: Officials Cite 83%
Turnout Despite Terror
by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3– United States officials
were
surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout
in South Vietnam’s presidential election despite a
Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.
According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of
the 5.85 million registered voters cast their
ballots
yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened
by
the Vietcong.
The size of the popular vote and the inability
of
the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were
the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of
the nation election based on the incomplete returns
reaching here.
Pending more detailed reports, neither the State
Department nor the White House would comment on the
balloting or the victory of the military candidates,
Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu, who was running for
president, and Premier Nguyen Cao Ky, the candidate
for vice president.
A successful election has long been seen as the
keystone in President Johnson’s policy of
encouraging
the growth of constitutional processes in South
Vietnam. The election was the culmination of a
constitutional development that began in January,
1966, to which President Johnson gave his personal
commitment when he met Premier Ky and General Thieu,
the chief of state, in Honolulu in February.
The purpose of the voting was to give legitimacy
to the Saigon Government, which has been founded
only
on coups and power plays since November, 1963, when
President Ngo Dinh Deim was overthrown by a military
junta.
Few members of that junta are still around, most
having been ousted or exiled in subsequent shifts of
power.
Significance Not Diminished
The fact that the backing of the electorate has
gone to the generals who have been ruling South
Vietnam for the last two years does not, in the
Administration’s view, diminish the significance of
the constitutional step that has been taken.
The hope here is that the new government will be
able to maneuver with a confidence and legitimacy
long
lacking in South Vietnamese politics. That hope
could
have been dashed either by a small turnout,
indicating
widespread scorn or a lack of interest in
constitutional development, or by the Vietcong’s
disruption of the balloting.
American officials had hoped for an 80 per cent
turnout. That was the figure in the election in
September for the Constituent Assembly.
Seventy-eight
per cent of the registered voters went to the polls
in
elections for local officials last spring.
Before the results of the presidential election
started to come in, the American officials warned
that
the turnout might be less than 80 per cent because
the
polling place would be open for two or three hours
less than in the election a year ago. The turnout of
83 per cent was a welcome surprise. The turnout in
the
1964 United States Presidential election was 62 per
cent.
Captured documents and interrogations indicated
in
the last week a serious concern among Vietcong
leaders
that a major effort would be required to render the
election meaningless. This effort has not succeeded,
judging from the reports from Saigon.
NYT. 9/4/1967: p. 2.
Turnout Despite Terror
by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3– United States officials
were
surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout
in South Vietnam’s presidential election despite a
Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.
According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of
the 5.85 million registered voters cast their
ballots
yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened
by
the Vietcong.
The size of the popular vote and the inability
of
the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were
the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of
the nation election based on the incomplete returns
reaching here.
Pending more detailed reports, neither the State
Department nor the White House would comment on the
balloting or the victory of the military candidates,
Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu, who was running for
president, and Premier Nguyen Cao Ky, the candidate
for vice president.
A successful election has long been seen as the
keystone in President Johnson’s policy of
encouraging
the growth of constitutional processes in South
Vietnam. The election was the culmination of a
constitutional development that began in January,
1966, to which President Johnson gave his personal
commitment when he met Premier Ky and General Thieu,
the chief of state, in Honolulu in February.
The purpose of the voting was to give legitimacy
to the Saigon Government, which has been founded
only
on coups and power plays since November, 1963, when
President Ngo Dinh Deim was overthrown by a military
junta.
Few members of that junta are still around, most
having been ousted or exiled in subsequent shifts of
power.
Significance Not Diminished
The fact that the backing of the electorate has
gone to the generals who have been ruling South
Vietnam for the last two years does not, in the
Administration’s view, diminish the significance of
the constitutional step that has been taken.
The hope here is that the new government will be
able to maneuver with a confidence and legitimacy
long
lacking in South Vietnamese politics. That hope
could
have been dashed either by a small turnout,
indicating
widespread scorn or a lack of interest in
constitutional development, or by the Vietcong’s
disruption of the balloting.
American officials had hoped for an 80 per cent
turnout. That was the figure in the election in
September for the Constituent Assembly.
Seventy-eight
per cent of the registered voters went to the polls
in
elections for local officials last spring.
Before the results of the presidential election
started to come in, the American officials warned
that
the turnout might be less than 80 per cent because
the
polling place would be open for two or three hours
less than in the election a year ago. The turnout of
83 per cent was a welcome surprise. The turnout in
the
1964 United States Presidential election was 62 per
cent.
Captured documents and interrogations indicated
in
the last week a serious concern among Vietcong
leaders
that a major effort would be required to render the
election meaningless. This effort has not succeeded,
judging from the reports from Saigon.
NYT. 9/4/1967: p. 2.