Delegates from the Cham minority communities prepare for balloting at the first Baha'i National Convention in Vietnam in 33 years.

The Baha'is of Vietnam have reached a historic milestone with the election - for the first time in many years - of a national Baha'i administrative body in that nation.

The Baha'i Faith is established in virtually every country of the world, and in most nations the Baha'is each year elect a National Spiritual Assembly of nine individuals to administer their affairs and guide the community.

In Vietnam, the Baha'i national convention and election held 20-21 March were the first since the unification of North and South Vietnam in 1975.

"This is important because it was the first time in 33 years that the government had approved that such a gathering could take place," said Joan Lincoln, a special emissary of the Universal House of Justice, the international governing body of the Baha'i Faith. Mrs. Lincoln traveled from the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa, Israel, to Ho Chi Minh City for the occasion.

"It was a deeply moving affair," she continued. "I was told that a number of the Baha'is hadn't seen one another in many years."

Preparations for the convention, including drafting the charter for the Baha'i governing body in Vietnam, were undertaken in consultation with the government, which sent three representatives to observe the election.

The voting took place at the small Baha'i Center in Ho Chi Minh City on the first day of the convention, followed the next day by a consultative session in a much larger hall that had been decorated with flowers of congratulation sent by various government and police agencies. More than 20 officials from the central, provincial and district governments attended the session, which was highlighted by the adoption by the Baha'is of the new charter.

Documents now will be submitted to the government for the next stage in the official recognition of the Baha'i Faith in Vietnam.