undermine the image of the NLF as the equal of the Saigon government."

"increase political competition at the provincial and local level and.. reduce its significance at the national groups" in the national government, and dispute among noncommunist level, thus reducing "fragmentation."

confront the NLF with a difficult choice: either to attempt to isolate its areas from the economic integration of South Vietnam-which, the report suggests, would cause population draining" and an increasing gap in standard of living between NLF and government areas-or to allow the integration, which would undermine its authority.

Another section of the report details areas of political competition in Vietnam, and concludes that the crucial areas will be the metropolitan centers and those rural areas not controlled by either the government or the NLF.

The section concludes that the U. S. can influence post-war Vietnamese politics by:

"shaping the rules of the game through its negotiations with Hanoi and the NLF and through advice to the GVN."

"influenc [ing] the identity of the players in the game by encouraging or discouraging some individuals... or groups... to participate in politics."

"giv [ing] money and material aid to candidates and groups... either through covert means or openly through the distribution of 'pork-barrel' projects."

The next section-entitled "Fixing the Rules of the Game: The Electoral System" -illustrates with statistics the political consequences of various systems of elections.

"Within the broad range of reasonable, equitable, and democratic systems, choices have to be made in terms of the consequences of the system: Which groups will it help? Whom it will hurt" the report asks.

"I wasn't trying to design the most theoretically beautiful system for South Vietnam," Huntington said in July, "I want a system which would be democratic and which would ensure that any benefits that the NLF might derive from the structure of the system would be minimal."

The report concludes that the current electoral system in Vietnam "is likely to lead to the NLF receiving highly disproportionate representation in the national assembly."

"It would be desirable to safeguard this eventuality by altering the existing electoral system," it continues. The report suggests a majority-vote runoff system-in which another election is held if no candidate for an office receives a majority.

This would be preferable to a two-vote system-in which the voter indicates first, second, and third choices-because in the run-off system "the second choices are made more by the politician than by the voter."

The final section-entitled "The Players and How We Can Help Them" -considers possible political coalitions among the political groups likely to emerge in post-war Vietnam.