VOA慢速英语--巴基斯坦的伊姆兰汗宣布胜利

Pakistan’s Imran Khan Declares Victory

Former cricket star Imran Khan has declared victory for his political party in Pakistan’s general elections.

Pakistani television stations say Khan’s PTI party, has a commanding lead in the voting. But the national election commission has yet to release official results.

Khan, who hopes to be Pakistan’s next prime minister, said in a statement “thanks to God, we won and we were successful.”

His supporters celebrated¹ outside party offices across the country. Many of them were young men, who danced to the sound of beating drums covered in the PTI’s black and green-colored flags.

Khan’s message of a “new” Pakistan appealed to young voters in Pakistan – a country where the United Nations says 64 percent of its people are below the age of 30.

At least 10 television stations in Pakistan reported that the PTI won as many as 119 of the 270 contested seats in the National Assembly. The 342-seat assembly has seats reserved for women and minorities.

Khan’s leading opponent, Shahbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League, rejected the election results as the votes were being counted.

Sharif wrote on Twitter that “had the public mandate² been delivered in a fair manner, we would have accepted it happily.”

The independent Human Rights Commission reported that in some places, women were not permitted to vote. In other areas, it said, “polling staff appeared to be biased⁴ toward a certain party,” without naming the party.

In the days before the elections, rights activist⁵ I.A. Rehman called the campaign “the dirtiest” in Pakistan’s push toward democracy.

The vote was held on Wednesday. The same day, a suicide bomber⁶ attacked a voting station in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan Province. Thirty-one people were killed.

Earlier this month, a suicide bomber struck at a political campaign event in the same province, killing⁷ 149 people and wounding 400 others. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack.

The election marked only the second time in Pakistan’s 71-year history that a civilian⁸ government is handing power to another in the country.

The armed forces have directly or indirectly⁹ ruled Pakistan for most of the country’s history. The military had placed 350,000 troops at 85,000 voting stations for the general elections.

There have been concerns expressed over the military’s influence during the campaign.

A Pakistani military spokesman called accusations¹⁰ of interference harmful “propaganda.”

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

contest - v. to try to win

reserve - v. to keep something for special use

mandate - n. the power to act that voters give to their elected leaders

deliver - v. to give control to a person or group

manner - n. the way that something is done or happens

staff - n. a group of people who work for an organization

bias³ - v. to have a strong and often unfair influence on someone or something

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

3 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

4 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

7 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

8 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

9 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。

10 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。