2007年VOA标准英语-Analyst Says Marred Congo Election to Solidify

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
06 August 2007

specially1 introduced for the Congolese second round of legislative2 elections in Brazzaville, 05 Aug 2007" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070811/0841320.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

A man shows a student card (L) and a newly-printed election voting card specially introduced for the Congolese second round of legislative elections in Brazzaville, 05 Aug 2007

In the Republic of Congo, results from Sunday's election for 84 legislative seats are expected by the end of the week. Election monitors and oppositions⁴ parties complained the second round was not much better than the first, which was marred⁵ by accusations⁶ of fraud. Phuong Tran reports from VOA's West African bureau in Dakar that supporters of President Denis Sassou-Nguesso won most of the seats in that round.

Forty small parties boycotted⁷ Sunday's election. Even though main opposition³ groups took part, analyst⁸ Paul Simon Handy says the outcome is evident.

"The election was far away from what can identify as free and fair," he said. "What the government is basically looking for is to ensure a majority and to push its lawmaking process. It is a slow and certain return to authoritarian⁹ rule."

Election monitors complained of incomplete voting lists, as well as missing poll workers and identity cards. But officials from the National Electoral Agency said Sunday's election proceeded well.

Even without electoral problems, Handy, of the South African Institute for Security Studies, says the long-alienated opposition is too fragmented to compete against the president.

"This opposition suffers from a weak organizational structure," he said. "The opposition is very divided, not really structured [and] with leaders who do not think about anything, just coming to power."

Earlier this year, President Sassou-Nguesso named Pastor¹⁰ Ntumi, a representative of the major opposition group, the Ninjas, to head the country's peace and reconciliation¹¹ efforts.

Handy says to reach lasting¹² peace, President Sassou-Nguesso needs to hold political dialogue with all of the armed military groups and exiled leaders. The analyst also says a new election overseen¹³ by international observers must be organized.

The Republic of Congo is still recovering from civil wars that killed thousands and displaced about a quarter of the population. A peace accord signed earlier this year formally ended the revolt. But many fighters have not joined the national army, which was a part of the peace deal.

1 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

2 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。

3 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。

4 oppositions   

（强烈的）反对( opposition的名词复数 )； 反对党； （事业、竞赛、游戏等的）对手； 对比

参考例句：

• That's fine because all perihelic oppositions of Mars are spectacular. 但它和最近的几次区别不大，因为火星所有的近日对冲都很壮观。
• He tried his best to bear down all of his oppositions. 他尽全力击败一切反对意见。

5 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。

6 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。

7 boycotted   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Athletes from several countries boycotted the Olympic Games. 有好几国的运动员抵制奥林匹克运动会。
• The opposition party earlier boycotted the Diet agenda, demanding Miyaji's resignation. 反对党曾杯葛国会议程，要宫路下台。

8 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。

9 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

10 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

11 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。

12 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

13 overseen   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was overseen stealing the letters. 他被人撞见在偷信件。 来自辞典例句
• It will be overseen by ThomasLi, director of IBM China Research Laboratory. 该实验室由IBM中国研究院院长李实恭(ThomasLi)引导。 来自互联网