2007年VOA标准英语-Preliminary Sierra Leone Vote Count Shows Tight

By Phuong Tran
15 August 2007

Partial results from Sierra Leone's National Electoral Commission show opposition¹ candidate Ernest Koroma leading the presidential race.  About 20 percent of the ballots² from Saturday's election have been officially released. Unofficial results from an independent vote counting organization show a close race between the opposition and the ruling party. Phuong Tran brings us this report from VOA's West Africa Bureau in Dakar.

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People look at the results of Sierra Leone's presidential and legislative elections in Freetown, 13 August 2007

First results from the National Electoral Commission show presidential candidate Ernest Koroma of the opposition All Peoples' Congress Party in the lead with about 200,000 votes.  Solomon Berewa of the ruling coalition⁴, Sierra Leone People's Party, has about half as many.  Charles Margai of the People's Movement for Democratic Change is running third.

The votes tallied⁵ so far account for about 19 percent of the vote.

Unofficial first results from the Independent Radio Network, which has tallied about twice as many votes as the commission, indicate the leading candidates may only be a few thousand votes apart.

A man checks at the results of Sierra Leone's elections in Freetown, 13 August 2007

The network's results for this election thus far show the ruling coalition leading with some 315,000 votes, and the All People's Congress with 10,000 votes less.

Spokesman Victor Reider for the ruling coalition's candidate Berewa, also currently the country's vice⁶ president, says he is confident the official results will reflect the network's tally⁷.

"We are not worried because the areas that remain to be counted are our strongholds," he said.

Berewa belongs to the Mende ethnic⁸ group, the largest in Sierra Leone, which dominates in the south and east.

But campaign spokesman Reider admits a victory of 55 percent or more to avoid a second election, is not likely. He says the campaign is already planning the next round.

"We are ready to go into any form of acceptable understanding with any party that becomes third," he said.  "That is politics."

According to the most recent official results, Charles Margai, who broke away from the ruling coalition to form the People's Movement for Democratic Change, is in third place with some 40,000 votes.

Even though Johannesburg-based analyst⁹ David Zounmenou with International Security Studies says an opposition-ruling party alliance is unlikely, he says it is possible.

"The ruling party may come up with an agreement of national reconciliation¹⁰ and make some generous offers to PMDC [People's Movement for Democratic Change]," he said.

But the analyst says it is still too early to predict alliances.

This year's legislative and presidential elections are the first that Sierra Leone's government has organized on its own since U.N. peacekeepers left in 2005.

Constitutional term limits prevented President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah from running again.

The country is still recovering from a brutal¹¹ 11-year civil war that has left the West African country with high unemployment, non-existent roads, and scarce clean water and electricity.

1 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。

2 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》

3 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

4 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

5 tallied   

v.计算，清点( tally的过去式和过去分词 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• The girl tallied them with her eyes for a moment. 新娘用目光把这些化妆品清点了一下。 来自教父部分
• His account of the accident tallied with hers. 他对事故的陈述和她的相吻合。 来自辞典例句

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。

8 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

9 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。

10 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

11 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。