VOA标准英语2009年-South Sudan Voter Registration Prompts

High voter registration¹ figures in South Sudan have prompted accusations² of irregularities from ruling parties of the North and South. A number of southern states registered more voters than official census³ data indicated could vote there, a result seemingly pointing to either electoral fraud or a seriously flawed census count.

Alan Boswell | Nairobi 21 December 2009

 
"Legislative⁴ elections would use the census results, and we feel it is full of flaws. And now registration itself is showing that there must have been a mistake." - SPLM official, Anne Itto.

Five South Sudan states have registered more voters than official census figures say could live there.  One, Unity⁵ state, signed up more than 200 percent of its official eligible⁶ population.

An official from the North's ruling National Congress Party told Reuters the numbers show the voter registration process in the South is marred⁷ with major fraud.

But officials from the South's Sudan People's Liberation Movement have long maintained the national census that calculated the semi-autonomous region's population was "rigged."  The census data is critical because it determines the number of seats up for election in the next parliament.

In a recent interview in Juba, the top SPLM official in the South, Anne Itto, told VOA her party would reject parliamentary elections in April based upon the official data, which could drop the South's representation in the body by nearly a third.

"Legislative elections would use the census results, and we feel it is full of flaws.  And now registration itself is showing that there must have been a mistake," she said.

Itto suggested that SPLM would accept elections on the national and southern presidencies⁸ as well as the governorships, but added the likely-inflammatory suggestion that elections be postponed⁹ until after its independence referendum if an acceptable agreement could not be reached.

"Either have executive elections or we will defer¹⁰ the elections until the referendum, unless of course there are some other arrangements that would increase the number of southern Sudanese to raise their percentage of South Sudan in the national assembly to 30 percent or so," she added.

The Sudanese constitution can be legally amended¹¹ with a two-thirds vote in parliament.  Southerners fear if its portion of seats drops to only 20 percent, as could take place under current election law, the northern parties could unite to take away its prized independence vote, now scheduled for January 2011.

The debate over the registration figures stands in stark¹² contrast to the concerns expressed by many southerners and outside observers at the beginning of the registration drive that poor infrastructure¹³ and lack of resources would likely doom¹⁴ the process.

Registration across the South started poorly, but by mid-November it had become apparent the initial predictions of extremely low turnout were premature¹⁵.

According to southern election officials, the voter drive began gaining steam after the South Sudanese president and SPLM chair Salva Kiir began seriously mobilizing public sentiment and the party apparatus¹⁶ towards getting southerners to sign up.

Southern Sudan fought a decades-long civil war against the ruling Khartoum government.  A 2005 landmark¹⁷ peace agreement gave the South a share of national power as well as its own semi-autonomous government.

The deal initiated¹⁸ a six-year interim¹⁹ governing period, during which national elections would be followed up by a southern independence referendum.  A number of recent reports have warned the political situation between North and South is deteriorating²⁰ towards renewed armed conflict.
 

1 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

2 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。

3 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

4 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。

5 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

6 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。

7 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。

8 presidencies   

n.总统的职位( presidency的名词复数 )；总统的任期

参考例句：

• The Dalai Lama previously visited the island during the presidencies of Chen Shui-bian and Lee Teng-hui. 曾经获得诺贝尔和平奖的达赖喇嘛，此前曾在李登辉和陈水扁主政期间访问台湾。 来自互联网

9 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

10 defer   

vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从

参考例句：

• We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
• We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。

11 Amended   

adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He asked to see the amended version. 他要求看修订本。
• He amended his speech by making some additions and deletions. 他对讲稿作了些增删修改。

12 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

13 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

14 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

15 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

16 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

17 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

18 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

19 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

20 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。