2007年VOA标准英语-Senegal's Opposition Worried Democratic Traditi

By Jordan Davis
Dakar
29 January 2007

With its reputation for fair elections and peaceful transitions of power, Senegal is often hailed as model democracy in West Africa. Senegalese are scheduled to vote in less than a month to elect a new president. But on Saturday, police cracked down on a major political march by the opposition¹, and now there are concerns that the country's democratic reputation is being tarnished². For VOA, Jordan Davis reports from Dakar.

 
Security forces used tear gas to disperse³ the demonstrators, 27 Jan 2007
Political marches in Senegal are relatively⁴ common. Most are uneventful. But a mass march organized by opposition parties Saturday in Dakar was a different story. Authorities initially⁵ banned it, citing public safety. But opposition leaders decided⁶ to hold the demonstration⁷ anyway, and the authorities responded.

Police in riot gear fired tear gas canisters, and hit demonstrators with batons⁸. Authorities dragged away and briefly⁹ detained opposition leaders, many of them candidates who plan to run against President Abdoulaye Wade¹⁰ next month.

A witness to the police crackdown, human rights observer Sidiki Kaba, said he was sad for the state of Senegal's democracy.

Kaba, who is with the Paris-based International Federation¹¹ for Human Rights, said the country has made a lot of progress, but now appears to be slipping backward.

 
Abdoulaye Wade (Jan 2006)
When Mr. Wade was elected president in 2000, those elections were viewed as a symbol of the advances democracy had made in Senegal.

The ruling socialists¹³ conceded defeat and handed over power to Mr. Wade and the liberal PDS party -- a peaceful transition rarely seen in the region. The international community congratulated Senegal for its commitment to the rule of law.

But that commitment to the rule of law is less clear, opposition groups say, as the 80-year-old Mr. Wade is set to face the voters in a month.

In fact, Saturday's opposition march was originally called to protest the repeated postponement¹⁴ of legislative¹⁵ elections.

They were first canceled in 2005, when Mr. Wade said the country could not afford them in the wake of massive flooding.

Then, several weeks ago, the parliamentary vote set to coincide with the upcoming presidential elections was delayed yet again when the country's high court ruled that the electoral map drawn¹⁶ up by the ruling party was biased¹⁷.

Moussa Taye, with the Socialist¹² Party, says many worry Mr. Wade does not want to hold elections because the economy is not good and that may cost him votes.

"Democracy means elections," he said. "But when the elections are postponed¹⁸, sometimes we are afraid that the elections will be canceled."

In response to growing rumors¹⁹ in newspapers that the government wants to delay the presidential vote, the ruling PDS party told reporters it fully²⁰ supports the February 25 vote going forward as scheduled.

The ruling party has been criticized for changing rules to benefit Mr. Wade. It pushed through parliament a measure dropping the requirement that turnout be above 50 percent for a winning presidential candidate to avoid going to a runoff.

That change was made just a few months before scheduled presidential elections, despite a good-governance agreement among the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, not to change election rules six months before a poll.

Moussa Taye said, "Abdoulaye Wade who is a member of ECOWAS and who tries to organize peace and another constitution in Guinea and other parts of Africa, in his own country cannot organize clear elections."

Kissy Agyeman, an analyst²¹ with London-based Global Insight, says, the atmosphere ahead of elections next month is somewhat troubling.

But, she says, it is not too late for Senegal to save its democratic reputation.

"I think that if the elections do come off at the slated²² time, the 25th of February, then Senegal can hold on to this idea that it is a democratic nation. But I think it is going to be a little blighted²³ by the fact that the legislatives²⁴ [legislative elections] have been postponed," she said.

Ultimately, says Agyeman, damage to Senegal's international reputation probably will not be too serious. The country is popular with international donors²⁵ largely because it is considered a bastion of stability in a troubled region.

She said, "Countries such as Guinea, Cote D'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Liberia. They all have much more pressing problems."

"So I think it is quite possible that the elections could go, not unnoticed, I wouldn't say that, but it will not get the same kind of attention. Because there is this sort of preconceived idea that Senegal will be fine," Agyeman added.

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 tarnished   

（通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏

参考例句：

• The mirrors had tarnished with age. 这些镜子因年深日久而照影不清楚。
• His bad behaviour has tarnished the good name of the school. 他行为不轨，败坏了学校的声誉。

3 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

8 batons   

n.（警察武器）警棍( baton的名词复数 )；（乐队指挥用的）指挥棒；接力棒

参考例句：

• There were many riot policemen with batons. 有许多带警棍的防暴警察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Chinese police fight? Number one is a person with batons to fight! 满街飘的中国国旗，是一个老华侨在事发时那出来分给大家的，很感动，真的，从来一向多一事不如少一事的中国人今天团结到一起站出来反抗。 来自互联网

9 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

10 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

11 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

12 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

13 socialists   

社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The socialists saw themselves as true heirs of the Enlightenment. 社会主义者认为自己是启蒙运动的真正继承者。
• The Socialists junked dogma when they came to office in 1982. 社会党人1982年上台执政后，就把其政治信条弃之不顾。

14 postponement   

n.推迟

参考例句：

• He compounded with his creditors for a postponement of payment. 他与债权人达成协议延期付款。
• Rain caused the postponement of several race-meetings. 几次赛马大会因雨延期。

15 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。

16 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

17 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。

18 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。

19 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

21 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。

22 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。

23 blighted   

adj.枯萎的，摧毁的

参考例句：

• Blighted stems often canker.有病的茎往往溃烂。
• She threw away a blighted rose.她把枯萎的玫瑰花扔掉了。

24 legislatives   

n.立法的( legislative的名词复数 )

参考例句：

25 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》