VOA标准英语2009年-Polls Open in Gabon

Voters in Gabon are choosing a new president to succeed long-time ruler Omar Bongo. Mr. Bongo died in June after 42 years in power.
　
Supporters of Ali Bongo Ondimba, son of former dictator Omar Bongo, leave his final presidential campaign rally in Libreville, Gabon, 29 Aug 2009

Former defense¹ minister Ali Ben Bongo leads a crowded field of candidates in Sunday's vote. The late president's son has the best-financed campaign, the support of security services, and the electoral infrastructure² of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party.

Bongo told VOA's French to Africa Service that he has the experience in both foreign and domestic affairs to provide strong leadership for Gabon.

Bongo says he will bring peace and development to Gabon by more equitably³ distributing national wealth, most of which comes from oil revenues. Bongo is promising⁴ to improve education, nearly double the minimum wage and build more than 5,000 new homes a year.

The nomination⁵ of the former president's son led to some divisions within the ruling party.

Former Bongo prime minister Jean Ndong says past policies must change.

Ndong told a pre-election rally that voters are going to choose the candidate for tomorrow and it is him, not because of his ethnicity but because he is simply the right candidate.

Civil society groups urged government opponents to unite behind a single candidate. Ndong and several other candidates eventually withdrew to support former interior minister Andre Mba Obame.

Former ruling-party official and minister of mining and petroleum⁶ Casimir Oye Mba took part in those talks to choose a single candidate but denied media reports that he had joined Ndong in dropping out of the race to back Obame.

While maintaining his own candidacy, Mba says everyone knows that a single opposition⁷ candidate has the best chance of challenging the ruling-party.

Civil society groups say opposition parties have failed to unite behind a single candidate because many believe they can win the election outright⁸ on their own. Even a small percentage of the vote could be enough to earn a candidate a ministerial post in the next government.

Despite the support of some of his former rivals, Obame has not emerged as the leading opposition candidate because long-time challenger Pierre Mamboundou remains⁹ in the race. The Union of the Gabonese People candidate finished second to Omar Bongo in 1998 and 2005.

After 42 years under Omar Bongo, Mamboundou says voters in Gabon do not want more of the same with his son Ali. Mamboundou says Gabon can not accept power passing dynastically from father to son. He campaigned on a platform of universal health coverage¹⁰.

Gabon's electoral commission has registered an improbable more-than-800,000 people for Sunday's vote. With fewer than one-and-a-half-million people, 40 percent of whom are below the age of 15, observers estimate the number of eligible¹¹ voters could not be much more than 700,000.

The government says local and international reporters may not speculate on results or voting trends and can only relay provisional returns announced by the interior ministry¹² through state-run media.

Interior Minister Francois Ndoungou says voters should return home Sunday and wait for the government to announce the winner. Several opposition candidates say they will take their supporters into the streets if there is any indication of vote rigging. Ndoungou says the government will use all forces at its disposal to put down any dissent¹³ to the official results.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

3 equitably   

公平地

参考例句：

• We should equitably assess historical figures. 我们应该公正地评价历史人物。
• Land was more equitably distributed. 土地得到更公平合理的分配。

4 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

5 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

6 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

7 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。

8 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 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。

11 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

12 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

13 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。