South Viet Nam: The Candidates Emerge

(2 of 2)

The jockeying between Ky and Thieu is likely to go on behind the scenes right up until the deadline for declaring; then, one will likely stand down and throw his support to the other in order to give the military candidate powerful backing. In the Byzantine world of Vietnamese politics, assuming that Ky gets the military nomination, his ultimate triumph at the polls is by no means a sure thing. His youth and the fact that he is a Northerner both work against him. Lately Saigon has been abuzz with rumors that Duong Van Minh, better known as Big Minh when he was Chief of State and commander in chief in 1963, might return from exile in Bangkok to enter the lists. The good-natured general headed the coup that overthrew Diem, but he would have to come home with the sufferance of the ruling generals, which is an unlikely prospect at the moment.

Automatic Underdog. The financial and power resources of the ruling Directory of generals make any civilian an automatic underdog. But with the world watching closely to see if the first free presidential election in South Viet Nam's history will really be democratic, a civilian with the will to fight could make a good run for it. Three civilian candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring. Phan Khac Suu, 62, onetime Chief of State and now speaker of the Constituent Assembly that framed the nation's new constitution, was the first to announce. A Southerner and something of a mystic, the white-haired Suu is agreeable to nearly everyone; he is so agreeable, in fact, that he is given little chance of being elected.

Another declared civilian is Nguyen Dinh Quat, 49, a Saigon businessman and former plantation owner, who in 1961 had the courage—or misjudgment —to run against President Ngo Dinh Diem. His reward was to be dispossessed of all his property by the Diem regime. A Northerner, Quat is now thought to be interested less in the presidency than in being chosen as a stronger candidate's vice-presidential running mate. The third civilian is Ha Thuc Ky, 48, a forestry engineer and Hué businessman nominated by the Dai Vet Party, a small, ultranationalist grouping. No relation to Premier Ky, he, like Quat, can best hope for the role of a running mate.

Yet undeclared but likely to run is ex-Prime Minister, ex-Saigon Mayor, ex-Schoolteacher Tran Van Huong, 63, who would almost certainly have the best chance of any civilian candidate.

Intelligent, tough and rigidly honest, a quality not much in currency among Vietnamese, Huong has announced that he will run if the final election law, yet to be completed in detail, is so framed that a civilian candidate has a fair chance of winning.

One More. Once the presidential elections are completed, along with upper house elections to be held on Sept. 1 as well, only one more election will remain to complete South Viet Nam's transition to civilian rule. That election, for the lower house, will take place on Oct. 1. Gracing the October roster of candidates may well be Mme. Nguyen Ky, onetime airline stewardess known as "the beauty of Air Viet Nam," who recently has confided to friends that she would not mind at all being a lady Congressman.