VOA英语2010年-Electoral Commission Says Egypt's Ruling NDP

Egypt's electoral commission announced the preliminary results of Sunday's parliamentary election, declaring the ruling National Democratic Party won 95 percent of the seats contested in the first round of voting. Opposition¹ parties complained of widespread irregularities, with some threatening to pull out of the December 5 election for nearly 300 remaining parliament seats.

What was announced as a landslide² for the ruling NDP left opposition parties in a furor³ and human rights organizations shaking their heads.? Leaders of the opposition Wafd party and the banned Muslim Brotherhood⁴ announced Wednesday that they were withdrawing from the Dec. 5 runoff election.

The head of Egypt's high electoral commission, Abdel Aziz Amr, declared the NDP won 209 of 221 seats in Sunday's first round of voting. Minor⁵ incidents of fraud, he insisted were being handled firmly.

He says that the electoral commission was dealing⁶ firmly with the few irregularities that took place in accordance with the law and the prosecutor⁷ is investigating every disturbance⁸ that occurred around polling stations as well as every alleged⁹ incident of tampering¹⁰ with voting boxes.

He said 35 percent of the country's 40-million eligible¹¹ voters turned out to vote, choosing among 5,033 candidates. Eyewitnesses¹² in many regions spoke¹³ of an "extremely light turnout."

Electoral commission spokesman Sameh Kashaf stressed there were extremely few cases of reported fraud.

He says that just 1,298 voting boxes, out of a total of 89,588 voting boxes, showed traces of irregularities and were discarded. He asks how could this small number of irregularities ruin the vast majority of polling stations that were managed correctly?

Cairo University Politics Professor Mohammad Kamal, a leading member of the NDP, told Al Jazeera TV that he had noted¹⁴ "many fewer problems than in previous elections."

The officially outlawed¹⁵ Muslim Brotherhood, which ran 130 candidates, but failed to win a single seat in the first round of voting, insisted the election was "rigged." The Brotherhood's leader, Mohammed Badie, called the results "null and void".

He says the legality of everything that comes out of the next parliament will now be dubious¹⁶, warning that this taints¹⁷ the future of Egypt and the ruling NDP.

 
VOA - E. Arrott
Egpytian independent media publisher Hesham KassemEgyptian publisher and human rights activist¹⁸ Hisham Kassem said he was disappointed by the election, calling it "shameless," but says he doubted those in charge had wanted such an excessive result.

"What we have on hand, now, is a party that has [gotten] out of control, because in some constituencies, you had six people from the [ruling] party nominated, because the party could not enforce discipline on its membership and have a single candidate," he said.

"Now, if the NDP wanted to--for saving face--rig some elections or allow some opposition to get the seats, they're unable to, because the beast has gone out of hand. The individuals of the party who were running were basically behind this. I don't think that even the NDP is dumb enough to want a result like this."

Independent Egyptian election monitors complained of widespread violence, vote-rigging and intimidation¹⁹ of opposition candidates. White House national security spokesman Mike Hammer called the reports of irregularities "worrying."

A runoff election to determine which candidates will win the close to 300 remaining seats in Egypt's 508 member parliament will be held on December 5.

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 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

3 furor   

n.狂热；大骚动

参考例句：

• His choice of words created quite a furor.他的措辞引起了相当大的轰动。
• The half hour lecture caused an enormous furor.那半小时的演讲引起了极大的轰动。

4 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

5 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

6 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。

7 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

8 disturbance   

n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调

参考例句：

• He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
• You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。

9 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

10 tampering   

v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄

参考例句：

• Two policemen were accused of tampering with the evidence. 有两名警察被控篡改证据。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• As Harry London had forecast, Brookside's D-day caught many meter-tampering offenders. 正如哈里·伦敦预见到的那样，布鲁克赛德的D日行动抓住了不少非法改装仪表的人。 来自辞典例句

11 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。

12 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

14 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

15 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

16 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

17 taints   

n.变质( taint的名词复数 )；污染；玷污；丑陋或腐败的迹象v.使变质( taint的第三人称单数 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• Meat taints readily in hot weather. 天气炎热，肉容易变味。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This disease of money and greed taints other people. 别人会为了贪财争赃而丧心病狂。 来自辞典例句

18 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

19 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。