VOA常速英语2008年-EU Urges Zimbabwe to Issue Vote Result

By Tendai Maphosa
London
04 April 2008

The European Union has added its voice to those calling for the release, without delay, of the full results of Saturday's elections in Zimbabwe. The EU also protested the arrest of two journalists who were covering the elections there. Tendai Maphosa has more in this report for VOA from London.
 
The EU said Thursday that Zimbabwe's authorities should release the results of Saturday's presidential election in the country.  EU spokesman John Clancy tells VOA that six days after the elections, the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission has had enough time to add up the numbers.

"Our main concern at this stage is simply awaiting release of the official results from the presidential election without any further delay," he said.

Clancy also called for the release of two journalists arrested Thursday.  Police in the capital Harare arrested New York Times correspondent Barry Bearak and an unnamed British journalist at a guesthouse in the capital.

A Zimbabwe police spokesman told AFP the two reporters were charged with covering the elections without accreditation¹ as required under Zimbabwean law. 

The EU's Clancy told VOA the two reporters should not have been arrested.

"Our concern is an overarching concern whenever it comes to journalists that they should not be arrested," he said.  "It's as simple as that.  Journalists should not be arrested if they are conducting their work in the appropriate manner."

A senior U.S. official has also called for the journalists' release.  Speaking to reporters on Friday, Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said journalists and non-governmental organizations in Zimbabwe should be allowed to do their work.

The U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe has warned Americans not to use cameras in urban areas.

Zimbabwe held presidential, parliamentary and local elections on Saturday but only results for the lower house have been published.  After 28 years in power, the ruling ZANU-PF party lost control of the house to the opposition² Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The MDC claims that its tallies³, based on totals posted outside polling stations, show that Morgan Tsvangirai, its presidential candidate, won the race against President Robert Mugabe who has been in power since independence in 1980.

Zimbabwe's official media has reported that no candidate won a clear majority and has hinted a second round run-off will be necessary to break the stalemate.
 
Zimbabwe's election law requires a presidential candidate to win 51 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off.

1 accreditation   

n.委派，信赖，鉴定合格

参考例句：

• a letter of accreditation 一份合格证明书
• This paper gives an overview of the Verification, Validation and Accreditation (VV&A) in High Level Architecture(HLA). 对基于高层体系结构(High Level Architecture,简称HLA)的仿真系统的校核、验证与确认(Verification, Validation and Accreditation,简称VV&A)问题进行了详细的介绍及分析。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 tallies   

n.账( tally的名词复数 )；符合；（计数的）签；标签v.计算，清点( tally的第三人称单数 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• Cash on hand tallies with the figure in the accounts. 现款跟账上的数目没有出入。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He tallies his own marks. 他把自己的得分记了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》