An Election for Nationhood

As the South Vietnamese went to the polls early this week, they were not so much voting for members of a constituent assembly as they were voting for themselves. All the principal protagonists in Viet Nam's long agony knew it: the government, striving to get as many voters as possible to the polls; the Viet Cong, hoping that their threats and grenades might frustrate the whole thing; the Buddhists, boy cotting the ballot box because it could not be stuffed to their specifications; and the U.S., standing aloof to let the Vietnamese speak for themselves.

What was most important about the elections, in short, was that they were taking place at all. For with any luck, they would constitute the first step toward the construction of the democracy that Viet Nam has never known. The obstacles were many. In a nation torn by terrorism, if only 50% of the 5,250,000 registered voters went to the polls, it would be a signal victory for the government and give the lie to Viet Cong claims that the rebels control--or can coerce on command--most of the nation's population.

Voting Is an Honor. The last time the Vietnamese had a national election, in 1961, the voters had a notable personality before them: President Ngo Dinh Diem. This time there were neither notable personalities nor concrete issues. Some 530 candidates were running for 108 places in an assembly that will write the country's new constitution, and it will be several days before all the winners are known. But in any case, there were, as Saigon analysts noted, no George Washingtons or Magsaysays among them. They were not running for a legislature. They represented no political parties. They stood on no platform other than their own appeal--and their desire, in the face of assassination threats by the Viet Cong, to shape a constitution that will prepare the way for civilian rule in Viet Nam.

The military government of Premier Ky--who was out on the hustings with his wife--favored no candidates but devoted all its energies to beating the drums for a turnout. Up and down Viet Nam, provincial drama teams mixed dragon dances with information skits and election slogans spreading the word. Sample slogan: "Voting is an honor of a citizen in an independent country." On TV, announcers folded the ballot, and dropped it into a box. Caravans of sound trucks rolled through smaller towns, and Radio Viet Nam belted out songs with lyrics like, "If we want to win the war, we must go to vote." As campaign lyrics go, it was remarkably close to the truth.

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