2006年VOA标准英语-Haitians Ready to Vote in Long Delayed Ele

By Amelia Shaw
Port-au-Prince
06 February 2006

UN peacekeepers, from left, Xin Kewei, Zhang Liang and Han Kui from China's Shangdong Province, take position in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, February 5, 2006   
  
Haitians head to the polls Tuesday in what will be the first democratic elections since former-president Jean Bertrand Aristide fled the country after a violent uprising two years ago. In the past few days, hundreds of election observers from around the world have arrived in Haiti to watch the vote.

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Haitian presidential candidates ended their campaigning Sunday, as U.N. workers and international observers made final preparations for Tuesday's vote.

Gerardo Le Chevalier, the Chief Election Officer at the U.N. Stabilization¹ Mission in Haiti, says that after postponing² the election four times due to logistical problems, the country is ready for elections.

"They have to return to legitimacy³, they have to have legit authorities, and the only way to have them is to elect them," he said. "Once you have legitimate⁴ authorities, you will have a process that will bring this country back to normality and to governability, and that is the way it happens all over the planet."

Le Chevalier says the government was successful in getting 90 percent of eligible⁵ people to register for their voter identity card. But, he does not know how many people will actually vote.

"Now comes the second part of it," he continued. "If these people who registered with enthusiasm go to vote with enthusiasm, I do not know. That is the problem of the candidates - if you do not have good candidates, it is like if you do not have good teams, people do not go to the stadium to watch bad teams play."

There are 33 candidates for president.

The front-runner is former-president Rene Preval, who served from 1995-2000. Preval is one of the few Haitian presidents to have served out his term without being overthrown⁶. Other popular candidates include former opposition⁷ leader Charles Baker⁸, and former president Leslie Manigat.

It is unlikely that any one candidate will receive the minimum 50-percent of the votes to win the presidency⁹, so a run-off election is expected next month.

Scores of international observers have arrived in Haiti. Program Director Chris Hennemeyer, of IFES, a democracy-building organization in Washington D.C., is leading a group of 24 international volunteers who will be stationed at polling sites in Haiti's major cities.

"There are a lot of international observers, around 250 internationals, plus 36,000 domestic observers, this will be a very closely watched election," commented Hennemeyer.

Local election monitor Karinne Clermont says Haitian elections are usually marred¹⁰ by violence and voting irregularities. She remembers Haiti's last elections in 2000, when ballots¹¹ were found thrown in the street the day after elections.

She says she hopes the large international presence will keep the vote free and fair this year. But she says, it will not be easy to transition out of the past 20 years of violence and instability.

"I am not going to lie to myself," said Clermont. "We are in a very fragile situation, that can explode at any moment."

Many Haitians, like Gema George, a computer technician in Port-au-Prince, see this vote as an important step in stabilizing¹² the country.

"If we choose someone who is serious, and competent - if we all take part in this, then we can see a positive change in this country," said George. "I think it is our obligation to go out and vote, and participate in this election."

She says she sees this as a time for change.

Gema George says she hopes that in 10 years, Haiti will not have so much insecurity and suffering, where kids are dying of hunger, or are shooting guns and kidnapping people. She says she hopes they can open more schools and universities, and offer something here that will stop all those people from leaving and going to the United States and Canada.

1 Stabilization   

稳定化

参考例句：

• The position of barycentre on plane directly impacts the stabilization and manipulation of plane. 飞机重心位置直接影响飞机的稳定和操纵特性。
• With the higher olefins, stabilization of the energetic intermediates occurs more easily. 在较高的烯烃情况下，高能的中间物稳定作用更易出现。

2 postponing   

v.延期，推迟( postpone的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He tried to gain time by postponing his decision. 他想以迟迟不作决定的手段来争取时间。 来自辞典例句
• I don't hold with the idea of postponing further discussion of the matter. 我不赞成推迟进一步讨论这件事的想法。 来自辞典例句

3 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

4 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

5 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

6 overthrown   

adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词

参考例句：

• The president was overthrown in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被赶下台。
• He has overthrown the basic standards of morality. 他已摒弃了基本的道德标准。

7 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。

8 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

9 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

10 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

11 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句