VOA常速英语2008年-Opposition, Analysts Say Zimbabwe Election Will

By Peta Thornycroft
Harare
06 March 2008

All three presidential candidates in the Zimbabwe election have launched their campaigns for the election scheduled for the end of this month. But, as Peta Thornycroft reports for VOA, there are already indications that these elections - despite some improvements in the political climate - will not be seen as free and fair by Western countries.

Zimbabwe is more peaceful now than before the last presidential elections in 2002. Then, the founding president of the opposition¹ Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, and his campaign team were under constant physical attack from Mr. Mugabe's supporters, as well as from the police and army.

The government then rejected allegations of violence and intimidation², blaming opposition supporters of causing violence or defying the law by holding illegal gatherings³.

This time there are two challengers to President Robert Mugabe, who is seeking another five-year-term that could see him serve 33 years as Zimbabwe's head of state. In addition to Tsvangirai, Mr. Mugabe is facing a challenge from Simba Makoni, a senior member of his own party and a former finance minister.

The changed political climate is partially⁴ the result of the South African-mediated dialogue between ZANU-PF and the MDC, which produced some improvements to election laws. However, some analysts⁶ say the government is only adhering to some of these improvements.

Political analyst⁵ Brian Raftopoulos has observed all Zimbabwe's elections since the arrival of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in late 1999. He says that a climate for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe does not currently exist.

"Despite the fact that there might be some lessening⁷ of tensions in certain areas, on the whole I think the conditions are still very, very difficult," he said. "I certainly don't think these are conditions for free and fair elections."

Both factions⁸ of the MDC, which split in 2005, say a few opposition candidates and supporters have been arrested since this campaign began and some political meetings have been banned by police. But, the police have allowed most political rallies to take place and have kept a lower profile than usual.

Zimbabwe citizens are now able to work as journalists without seeking accreditation⁹. However, Brian Hungwe, a Zimbabwe journalist, who applied¹⁰ for accreditation, has been informed by the Media and Information Commission, currently functioning without a legal mandate¹¹, that he is now banned from working as a journalist.

In addition, the independent Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe says both print and electronic media in Zimbabwe are almost entirely¹² biased¹³ in favor of ZANU-PF.

The Zimbabwe Election Commission has failed to meet a deadline to officially publish names and addresses of election officials. Before parliament was dissolved, ahead of the elections, approval of 210 new voting districts was hurriedly approved by the ruling party majority, without debate.

There is little voter education, ahead of the election, in which, for the first time, four national elections take place, simultaneously¹⁴.

The difficult political climate is further exacerbated¹⁵ by acrimony in opposition ranks. Talks aimed at reuniting the MDC failed last month. Analyst Raftopoulos says the split has caused tension within the broad opposition - both between the two factions of the party and between civil rights groups.

"Some of the key civic¹⁶ leaders have become involved in the split that took place in the MDC in 2005 and subsequent acrimonious¹⁷ activity that resulted from that," he said. "And, so they've in a sense developed a possession of that split, they have taken ownership of that split, and also engaged in some of the more bitter polemics¹⁸ which took place around that.

Raftopoulos says some in the MDC and some civic groups have taken a leaf out of the ruling party book, when it comes to dealing¹⁹ with disagreements among themselves.

"Even opposition and civic politics has grown up in a political culture dominated by ZANU-PF authoritarian²⁰ political style," he explained. "And, that has often transferred itself into the practices of both the opposition and the civics, in the manner of their politics, in the manner in which they deal with differences and dissent²¹ with in their own ranks."

There is also concern in Zimbabwe that a win by either of the presidential challengers could lead to state repression²² and conflict. Raftopoulos says the tensions would be greater if Morgan Tsvangirai won than if Simba Makoni was the victor. He says, if Tsvangirai wins, it will represent an extraordinary victory, as Mr. Mugabe and his colleagues have waged a relentless²³ and often violent campaign against him and his colleagues for the last eight years.

"I think Mugabe has a huge perception, first of all, that nobody else can rule Zimbabwe besides himself, but certainly that Morgan Tsvangirai will never rule Zimbabwe," he added. "So, I think the acrimony, the possible fight back, the responses from state and maybe even from the army, would certainly be stronger against a Tsvangirai victory."

If President Mugabe does win the presidential elections, Raftopoulos believes the political and economic crisis will continue to deteriorate²⁴.

"It will be an election that will certainly not be widely recognized, apart from the usual culprits in the region and continent who have recognized the most repressive elections, the most fraudulent elections," he said. "But, certainly, if we are talking about the West, there will be no recognition of that election."

Raftopoulos says, if Simba Makoni wins the presidential election, his victory would legitimize the ruling ZANU-PF, as a reformed party. But he says, it would also open up political space.

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 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

3 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

4 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

5 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。

6 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

7 lessening   

减轻，减少，变小

参考例句：

• So however much he earned, she spent it, her demands growing and lessening with his income. 祥子挣多少，她花多少，她的要求随着他的钱涨落。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• The talks have resulted in a lessening of suspicion. 谈话消减了彼此的怀疑。

8 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

9 accreditation   

n.委派，信赖，鉴定合格

参考例句：

• a letter of accreditation 一份合格证明书
• This paper gives an overview of the Verification, Validation and Accreditation (VV&A) in High Level Architecture(HLA). 对基于高层体系结构(High Level Architecture,简称HLA)的仿真系统的校核、验证与确认(Verification, Validation and Accreditation,简称VV&A)问题进行了详细的介绍及分析。 来自互联网

10 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

11 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。

12 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

13 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。

14 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

15 exacerbated   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs. 这些症状可能会因为某些药物而加重。
• The drugs they gave her only exacerbated the pain. 他们给她吃的药只是加重了她的痛楚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

17 acrimonious   

adj.严厉的，辛辣的，刻毒的

参考例句：

• He had an acrimonious quarrel with his girlfriend yesterday.昨天他跟他的女朋友激烈争吵了一番。
• His parents went through an acrimonious divorce.他的父母在激烈吵吵闹闹中离了婚。

18 polemics   

n.辩论术，辩论法；争论( polemic的名词复数 )；辩论；辩论术；辩论法

参考例句：

• He enjoys polemics, persuasion, and controversy. 他喜欢辩论、说服和争议。 来自辞典例句
• The modes of propaganda are opportunistic and the polemics can be vicious. 宣传的模式是投机取巧的，诡辩是可恶性的。 来自互联网

19 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

20 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。

21 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

22 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

23 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

24 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。