It is not primarily the possibility of fraud in the casting or counting of the ballots. nor intimidation and muzzling of civilian candidates. nor the short time given for campaigning. although these factors and the failure to permit perfectly respectable South Vietnamese civilian candidates to run for office unquestionably play their part. But the real trouble is that most of the population of South Vietnam is disfranchised by the military situation. About the only citizens of South Vietnam who will be able to cast their ballots are the military. civil servants. the inhabitants of Saigon. and some of the provincial capitals and the refugees who have swarmed into the cities from the countryside. According to a table said to be based on official U.S. data which appeared in the New York Times on August 7. South Vietnam has a total population of 17.165.300 persons. of whom 13.432.000 live in hamlets and only 3.732.500 live in cities.
Keywords matched
refugees