2006年VOA标准英语-EU, Opposition Say Ugandan Election Biased

By Raymond Thibodeaux
Mbuwa, Uganda
24 February 2006

Leaders of Uganda's main opposition¹ party and European Union observers are saying the Ugandan election was biased² toward the ruling party and its presidential candidate, President Yoweri Museveni, who is seeking to extend his 20-year tenure³ in office. It is Uganda's first multi-party election in a quarter-century.

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Museveni supporters celebrate in Kampala, Friday, 24 February   
  

With less than 10 percent of Uganda's 19,000 polling stations reporting their results, the country's electoral commission announced Friday that the  President had a strong lead with 58 percent of the votes compared to 37 percent for his main challenger, Kizza Besigye.

The announcement sparked outrage⁴ from Mr. Besigye's party, the Forum⁵ for Democratic Change (FDC), which blasted the commission for what it says is selective sampling of poll results favoring Mr. Museveni. Electoral Commission officials deny serious problems with the vote.

 
Besigye supporters give victory signs in front of a painting of their leader at party headquarters in Kampala 
  
FDC officials say they have carried out their own exit poll in 33 randomly⁶ selected districts across the country, with about 500,000 people surveyed. In their poll, Mr. Besigye edges just ahead with 49.7 percent to 47.5 for Mr. Museveni.

Rubaramira Ruranga is an election director for FDC. Speaking at a hastily called press conference Friday in the front yard of Mr. Besigye's residence, Ruranga accused the electoral commission of trying to lay the groundwork for announcing a victory for Mr. Museveni.

"Their point is to manipulate the minds of people and put people at attention," he said, "and maybe to prepare them to probably accept any other results which may be made although they may not be necessarily correct."

The FDC rattled⁷ off a list of grievances⁸ with Thursday's election, including unsealed ballot⁹ boxes, cases of bribery¹⁰ and repeat voting, and intimidation¹¹ of voters.

Many of their grievances were backed by the European Union's election observation mission, which had 200 monitors fanned out across the country.

Many EU observers found similar irregularities. The EU mission officials also accused the ruling party of stacking the deck in their favor in the election. Mr. Museveni and his ruling party enjoyed substantial advantages over their opponents, including the use of state resources such as government cars, personnel and overwhelming coverage¹² in state-owned television and radio, the EU's monitoring mission officials are saying.

Uganda's electoral commission is expected to announce final poll results late Saturday.
 
 

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 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。

3 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

4 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

5 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

6 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

7 rattled   

慌乱的，恼火的

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

8 grievances   

n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚

参考例句：

• The trade union leader spoke about the grievances of the workers. 工会领袖述说工人们的苦情。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He gave air to his grievances. 他申诉了他的冤情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

10 bribery   

n.贿络行为，行贿，受贿

参考例句：

• FBI found out that the senator committed bribery.美国联邦调查局查明这个参议员有受贿行为。
• He was charged with bribery.他被指控受贿。

11 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。

12 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。