The World: South Viet Nam: No Longer a Choice

SOUTH Viet Nam's President Nguyen Van Thieu had remained conspicuously silent for a month. Now, accompanied by his bodyguards, he made his way to Saigon's television studios to defend before a fretful nation his decision to proceed with the presidential election next month. The election will be unusual even by Vietnamese standards: only Thieu's name will be on the ballot. Dismissing any notion of resigning to assure a fair race among equal contestants as "the act of a deserter," Thieu proposed to make, the election a referendum on his popularity. The terms: "I would like to use this election to ask the people whether they still have confidence in me and my policies. If they do, I will accept another four-year term. If not, I will resign."

It was not, of course, all that simple. Thieu carefully refrained from saying just how large or small a vote would constitute an expression of confidence. And though voters could conceivably cast blank ballots as a way of showing disapproval, the President's supporters have ways of assuring desired election results (see following story). By ridding himself of all potential challengers-most notably Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky and retired General Duong Van ("Big") Minh-Thieu had placed himself in a position of power unparalleled in South Viet Nam since the days of the late Ngo Dinh Diem.

If Thieu had no opponents at the top, however, he did not lack for opposition, as last week's elections to the Lower House of South Viet Nam's National Assembly abundantly demonstrated. The Assembly has been corrupt-a vote cost $ 180 and ardent support of a bill brought up to $1,800-and virtually powerless, and so many candidates ran this time that the election was a cross between a popularity contest and a lottery. But the voting did reveal Thieu's growing unpopularity. Thieu had hoped to win a solid two-thirds majority in the 159-seat house, but not even his supporters ran openly under his banner. When the returns were in, it was clear that he could only count on a majority.

Ominous Preview. The largest gains were made by the militantly antigovernment, antiwar An Quang Buddhists, whose street riots back in 1963 were a major factor in the downfall of Diem. The Buddhists, who were strong in the northern provinces, emerged from the election with 31 seats, the second biggest bloc in the House, though by no means a united one. The opposition counted 58 members in all, more than the total of Thieu's known supporters. A more ominous preview of the sort of opposition that could be mounted in the absence of a genuine presidential election came last week when Buddhists and students demonstrated in Saigon after three of their number fell ill and died during military training. Outside the National Assembly, defeated Deputy Nguyen Dae Dan tried to protest what he said was a rigged election by setting himself ablaze, and might have succeeded had his friends not intervened in time. South Viet Nam's Disabled Veterans Association claimed that 39 of its members had offered to lead a revival of protest self-immolations, which were a feature of the last, fiery days of the Diem regime.