After intense negotiations that began on 8 May 1954, the day after the fall of the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu, agreements were finally signed on 21 July between the French and Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian representatives. The main provisions were in favour of a ceasefire line along the 17th parallel (effectively split in two); 300 days for each side, to withdraw their troops at its side of the line; Communist troops and guerrillas for the evacuation of Laos and Cambodia, where free elections would be held in 1955 and where French troops could be deployed if requested by the Lao or Cambodian government. It was expressly stated that the demarcation line « should not be construed as a political or territorial boundary under any circumstances. » Implementation of the agreements should be overseen by a commission made up of representatives from India, Poland and Canada. A provision known as the final declaration stipulated that all Vietnamese elections should be held before July 1956, under the supervision of the Committee, in order to again deny the country. This was an issue of great importance in persuading Viet Minh to accept the temporary regrouping of its troops in the northern half of the country, since it controlled three-quarters of Vietnam on the eve of the conference. A few days later, the plenary of the Vietnamese Communist Party took place. Ho-Chi-Minh and Secretary General Tréng Chinh took turns stressing the need for a quick political solution to prevent military intervention by the United States, which is now Vietnam`s « main and direct enemy. » « In this new situation, we cannot follow the old program, » Ho said. « Our motto was: « The war of resistance to victory. » Faced with this new situation, we should now adopt a new slogan: peace, unification, independence and democracy. Both sides must compromise in order for the negotiations to succeed and there can no longer be any question of the extermination and destruction of all French troops. A demarcation line allowing the temporary consolidation of the two parties would be necessary… The plenary approved Hos` analysis and adopted a resolution supporting a compromise solution to end the fighting.