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Should the State of Vietnam become a Republic or remain a Monarchy? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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A referendum was held in the State of Vietnam to determine whether the country was a republic or monarchy. It was primarily a contest between Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem, who proposed a republic, and former emperor Bảo Đại, who had abdicated in 1945 and at the time of the referendum held the title of head of state.
Although published counts showed Diem winning the election with 98.9% of the vote, the referendum was widely marred by electoral fraud. In the capital, Saigon, Diem was credited with more than 600,000 votes, although only 450,000 people were on the electoral roll,[1][2] while Diem was also credited with receiving the votes of over 90% of registered voters in rural regions where opposition groups had prevented voting.
The referendum was the last phase in the power struggle between Bảo Đại and his prime minister. Bảo Đại disliked Diem and had frequently attempted to undermine him, having appointed him only because he was a conduit to American aid. At the time, the country was going through a period of insecurity, as Vietnam had been temporarily partitioned as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords that ended the First Indochina War. The State of Vietnam controlled the southern half of the country, pending national elections that were intended to reunify the country under a common government. Still, the Vietnamese National Army was not in full control of southern Vietnam; the Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo religious sects ran their own administrations in the countryside supported by private armies, while the Bình Xuyên organised crime syndicate controlled the streets of Saigon. Despite interference from these groups, Bảo Đại, and even French officials, Diem managed to subdue the private armies and consolidate government control over the country by mid-1955.
Emboldened by his success, Diem began to plot Bảo Đại's downfall. He scheduled a referendum for 23 October 1955 and pushed Bảo Đại out of the political scene, hindering the former emperor's attempts to derail the poll. In the period leading up to the vote, campaigning for Bảo Đại was banned, while Diem's election campaign focused on personal attacks against Bảo Đại. These included pornographic cartoons of the head of state and unverified rumours claiming he was illegitimate and linking him to various mistresses. The government-controlled media launched polemical attacks on Bảo Đại, and police went door-to-door, warning people of the consequences of failing to vote. After his brother Ngô Đình Nhu had rigged the referendum, Diem proclaimed himself president of the newly created Republic of Vietnam.