2006年VOA标准英语-Mexican Election Body Begins to Count Disputed

By Greg Flakus
Mexico City
06 July 2006

Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute, known as the IFE, on Wednesday began its official final vote count in an effort to determine who won Sunday's presidential election. Outside IFE's headquarters in Mexico City supporters of leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador are condemning¹ the electoral body and threatening violence if the final result does not favor their candidate.

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Pro-Lopez Obrador demostrators at election center in Mexico City  
  
The demonstrators chant, "If there is no solution, there will be revolution."

They carry banners and signs, some supporting candidate Andres Manuel Lopez , others condemning the electoral institute and its president, Luis Carlos Ugalde. They accuse Ugalde of trying to perpetrate a fraud to steal the election from Lopez Obrador and hand it to ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon.

As police kept a wary² watch, the numbers of protesters grew, from around 30 at the beginning of the day, to around 300 by mid³ afternoon. Elsewhere in the city, all appeared normal and there were few signs of discontent. Most Mexicans say they are willing to wait for the IFE to make its final count.

Police guarding election center in Mexico City  
  
But if that count shows Calderon as victor, Lopez Obrador has promised to carry his fight to the electoral tribunal, which could take until September 6 to pronounce a winner. In the meantime, Lopez Obrador and his supporters are likely to continue marches and protests based on his claim that he won the election.

The preliminary count showed Calderon in the lead by about one percent, but IFE officials are examining around two-and-a-half million votes that were set aside for various inconsistencies. When the result of those votes is figured in, Calderon's lead dropped to around six tenths of one percent. Lopez Obrador and his supporters say there were many other irregularities as a basis for the legal challenges to come.

Most independent observers say Sunday's election went very well and that there were few serious irregularities reported. Calderon and his supporters say the vote count shows he won and that Lopez Obrador has failed to produce any hard evidence to challenge that result.

Lopez Obrador had claimed that the vote boxes set aside because of inconsistencies were "lost." But IFE officials note that his own party representatives were on hand for the entire process and knew where these votes were. They also say the rules by which questionable⁴ votes are set aside temporarily were agreed upon by all the political parties well in advance of the election.

Behind the dispute is Mexico's experience with corrupt⁵ and fraudulent elections during the 71 years of uninterrupted rule by one party, which ended when current President Vicente Fox won the 2000 election. While most Mexicans say they trust the independent and transparent⁶ electoral institute, which has run the past three national elections, many leftists and representatives of small farm and worker groups say they have no confidence in the system.

Political analysts⁷ note that whoever finally emerges as the winner of the election will have to govern a country deeply divided along ideological⁸ lines, where no one party has the votes in Congress to pass legislation and where distrust and anger over the election could undermine any chance of reconciliation⁹.

1 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

3 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

4 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。

5 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

6 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

7 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。

8 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

9 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。