In the sweltering, 100° heat of dusty Vientiane, Foreign Minister Khampan Panya blandly told reporters. "Sometimes the truth appears to be untrue." The deceptive "truth": the incredible majorities run up by the pro-government candidates of the National Front in last week's general election for a new Assembly.
In Samneua province, long a stronghold of the Communist rebels, the National Front candidate rolled up 16,000 votes to 13 for his pro-Red opponent. Another National Front office seeker was given a total of 18,189 votes while his two rivals respectively got eleven and four. Of...