308. Editorial Note
On March 4, South Vietnam held elections for its National Constituent Assembly, the first task of which was to be the formulation of a new constitution for Vietnam based on a draft prepared by the Diem government. The results of the election were announced on March 8 as follows: National Revolutionary Movement 47 seats, Independents 39, Citizens Community 18, Movement for Freedom 11, and 5 small parties won a total of 8 seats. According to telegram 3655 from Saigon, March 8, it was the view of the Embassy in Saigon that party lines in the new assembly were likely to be subordinate to the overwhelmingly pro-Diem orientation of the body as a whole. Only 33 of the 123 seats were won by people who had run against candidates unofficially favored by the government. Consequently, the Embassy did not foresee much opposition to Diem’s draft constitution. (Department of State, Central Files, 751G.00/3–856)
Further analysis and information on the elections and the preceding campaigns are in despatches 274, 284, 285, 306, 314, and 332, February 21, March 1, March 7, March 17, March 23, and April 9, respectively. (Ibid., 751G.00/2–2156 to 751G.00/4–956) For despatch 314, see Document 316.