 Diệm ran a personal attack campaign against the head of state , for whom campaigning was prohibited . The army and national police went about enforcing the ban on pro @-@ Bảo Đại and anti @-@ Diệm activities . Police went from door to door , explaining the consequences of failing to vote . They organized conferences in rural villages and addressed the populace with loudspeakers . In general , Diệm 's line of attack was to portray Bảo Đại as a drunken womanizer who was preoccupied with immoral pleasures and unconcerned with the problems of the populace . Vietnam 's monarchic tradition was built on Confucianism and the emperor 's Mandate of Heaven , and Diệm 's campaign claimed Bảo Đại had lost this mandate through his debauched lifestyle . According to Joseph Buttinger , who was based in Vietnam as the second in command at the International Rescue Committee , the methods used to influence the poll were " outrageous " . Donald Lancaster , a journalist who covered the poll , said " Whereas Bao Dai was given no opportunity to defend himself , the government @-@ controlled press proceeded to overwhelm him with scurrilous abuse . " Diệm later banned Bảo Đại from entering the State of Vietnam . 
