The Michigan Daily-Thursday, May 18 1978-Page 13
SANTO DOMINGO QUIET
Dominican troops halt election
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican
Republic (AP) - Tabulation of
presidential election results was halted
by national police forces here yester-
day after challenger Antonio Guzman
opened a wide lead over President
Joaquin Balaguer in Tuesday's
balloting, according to reports in
Washington.
The military denied it seized the
government.
WHEN THE count was halted, Guz-
man, 67, led Balaguer, 70, by 326,076
votes to 218,073 in unofficial returns.
The capital remained calm yesterday
afternoon, with no sign of the troops and
police who took to the streets before
dawn, sparking rumors of a coup.
Guzman called on President Carter to
use his influence to restore con-
stitutional order. Guzman and his vice
presidential candidate, Jacobo
Majluta, also said they would not per-
mit election results to be altered.
"JIMMY CARTER and Joaquin
Balaguer committed themselves before
House rejects
N-bban
world public opinion to a free election
that would be clean and respected. We
are convinced Balaguer will abide by
that promise," Guzman said.
"It is up to the electoral board to
declare me the winner," he added.
Guzman said Carter could blockade
the Dominican Republic, which shares
the central Caribbean island of
Hispaniola with Haiti, or withhold
economic aid if the results are not
honored.
THE STATE Department initially
said it was encouraged by a statement
by Armed Forces Minister Gen. Juan
Beauchamps Javier that the electoral
process would be respected, and there
were reports in Washington that the
vote count had been resumed.
But late in the day, the department
retreated from that statement, saying
the remarks attributed to Beauchamps
had not been confirmed.
EARLIER REPORTS said armed
forces invaded the headquarters of the
Central Electoral Board at 4 a.m.,
stopping the vote count and the broad-
casting of results.
Sources at the Organization of
American States headquarters in
Washington said OAS election obser-
vers reported Balaguer retained con-
trol of the government and indicated he
was ready to transfer power to Guzman
if the opposition should win the election.
The only official comment came in a
military communique broadcast by
Dominican radio. It said rumors of a
coup were false and indicated the
military would respect the election
results.
OAS SOURCES said national police
spearheaded the takeover of election
headquarters. The informants said the
police leadership was historically an-
tagonistic to Guzman's center-left op-
position Dominican Revolutionary Par-
ty, or PRD. There was no word on what
prompted the intervention.
Balaguer was seeking his fourth four-
year term. He was first elected in 1966
after a civil war that followed the
military overthrow in 1963 of the last
popularly elected PRD government.
U.S. troops, later incorporated into a
pan-American police force, intervened
in 1966 to halt the civil war and set the
stage for the election of Balaguer, who
has maintained close ties with the
United States.
Balaguer ran a vigorous campaign on
his record of political stability and post
civil war economic recovery. Guzman
accused the president of allowing
corruption to spread through the lower
levels of his administration during
Balaguer's long tenure.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House
refused yesterday to prohibit spending
for production of the neutron warhead.
President Carter has postponed
development of the weapon but wants to
keep his option open for later develop-
ment. Yesterday's 306-90 vote will keep
that option alive.
ON APRIL 7 Carter said he would not
go ahead with the weapons system and
instead would seek arms concessions
from the Soviet Union.
Also rejected, by a vote of 54-12, was a
proposal to give Congress veto power
over a presidential decision to produce
the warhead. Under the amendment,
production could have been blocked if
both the Senate and the House voted
against the weapon within 45 days after
Carter decided to go ahead with it.
The moves to kill the neutron
warhead or restrict the President's
production decision were proposed as
amendments to a bill authorizing $2.9
billion in the fiscal year beginning Oct.
1 to maintain and modernize the U.S.
stockpile of nuclear weapons.
THE OVERALL bill was approved
348-46 and sent to the Senate. Under the
bill, Carter would have authority to
produce neutron warheads for Lance
missiles and artillery shells if he cer-
tifies they are in the interest of national
security.
Neutron warheads are designed to
kill primarily through radiation. The
weapons have smaller blast and shock
effects than older nuclear weapons.
Military planners say neutron weapons
could be used against a Soviet tank
assaulty against Western Europe.
In his April 7 announcement, Carter
said the ultimate decision on production
of neutron weapons will be made later
and "will be influenced by the degree to
which the Soviet Union shows restraint
in its conventional and nuclear arms
programs and force deployments affec-
ting the security of the United States
and Western Europe."
CONGRESSIONAL leaders and key
members of the Senate and House Ar-
med Services committees had urged
Carter not to scrap neutron weapons
without a Soviet arms concession.
Arguing against the amendment to
cut off the funding authorization, Rep.
Samuel Stratton, (D-N.Y.), chairman
of the Armed Services investigations
subcommittee, said, "We're being
asked to restrict the President of the
United States, to tie the hands of the
President of the United States."
Stratton said the Soviets already
have signaled they will not make a
reciprocal arms concession, and that
'Carter "may well change his mind"
about neutron weapons. He and other
supporters of the neutron warhead
argued it "is the only weapon system
the Russians are really afraid of."
REP. THEODORE Weiss, (D-N.Y.),
leader of the move to cut off neutron
weapon- authorization and a similar,
unsuccessful campaign last year, said
neutron warheads blur the distinction
between neujtron and conventional
weapons, thus increasing the likelihood
of nuclear war.
Rep. Ron Dellums, (D-Calif.), said
that with the neutron warhead, "We are
making nuclear war thinkable,
possible, inevitable."
Weiss said his amendment to delete
neutron weaponi authorization would
not deprive the President of the option,
but would require him "to come and
ask" Congress for authority.
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