2006年VOA标准英语-Four Presidential Candidates Register for

By Lisa McAdams
Moscow
30 January 2006

The signature-collecting campaign for presidential hopefuls in Belarus has come to an end, with four candidates expected to be officially confirmed soon. The pre-election campaign has been tense and there is no sign the remaining weeks leading up to the March 19 election will be any different.

-------------------------------------------------

The Central Election Commission in Belarus has until February 11 to publish the official list of candidates accepted to compete to become the next president of Belarus.

 

Alexander Lukashenko   
  

Few if any observers expect many surprises. Other than front-runner and incumbent¹, Alexander Lukashenko, only three other people are expected to be in the race. They are the candidate for the united Democratic opposition², Alexander Milinkevich, along with two other candidates who are described as being close to the government of Alexander Kozulin and Sergei Gaidukevich.

Within the past few weeks, two other opposition candidates, Alexander Voitovich and Zenon Pozniak, quit the race, saying they doubted it would be free and fair.

Dr. Oleg Maynayev is an independent political analyst³ who heads Belarus first independent think-tank in Minsk. Dr. Maynayev tells VOA that while he does not believe anyone other than President Lukashenko can realistically win the race, he says the opposition can still make important gains.
 

Alexander Milinkevich   
  
"If Milinkevich succeeds to get around 30 percent, people will get information that there is another politician who disagrees with the existing regime, who disagrees with President Lukashenko, who expresses their disagreement and [that] there is a person who concentrates their expectations, who expresses their wills, and this person has some grounds, some capacity, and he could after the election try to go further," he said. "So, people could get hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel."

Still, Maynayev notes that any gains for the opposition must be looked at in a long-term sense. In other words, he says he sees no quick fix, such as a so-called color revolution for Belarus, like those that swept pro-reform leaders to power in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan over long-standing Soviet-style leaders.

"I don't see too much prospect⁴ for that [for] various reasons," he said. "Belarussian society is not ready for that and [a] secondly⁵ extremely important factor is that the existing regime in Belarus is much more harsh than in Georgia, or Ukraine, or even Kyrgyzstan. It means, it [the government] will respond much more brutally⁶, including maybe orders if not to kill people, to arrest and beat them and for mass repressions⁷. No doubts about that."

Maynayev points to the harshness of the pre-election campaign, during which candidates and opposition media have been harassed⁸ and, in some cases, shut down or silenced as evidence of his concerns about the future.

The West shares those concerns, accusing the increasingly authoritarian⁹ leader of illegally extending his term through a series of rigged elections and referenda and of trying to stamp out domestic opposition, human rights groups, and critical media.

U.S. President George Bush routinely brands Belarus as the last dictatorship in Europe.

Late last week, the Council of Europe urged Mr. Lukashenko to take concrete measures to allow news broadcasts of various sources beyond just pro-government outlets¹⁰. It also asked him to review the make-up of local election commissions in order to ensure fairness and balance.

President Lukashenko, who was first elected to office in 1994, has promised no major shifts in policy if he is re-elected as expected.

1 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

4 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

5 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

6 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

7 repressions   

n.压抑( repression的名词复数 )；约束；抑制；镇压

参考例句：

8 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

9 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

10 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》