VOA标准英语2010-Iraq's Parliamentary Election Votes to be

Iraq's Electoral Commission is preparing for a manual recount of ballots² cast in Baghdad during the March 7 parliamentary elections.  An Iraqi court announced the recount on Monday after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki claimed widespread vote fraud in Iraq.  Initial election results showed former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya coalition³ won the largest amount of seats in the 325 member parliament, but just two more than Mr. Maliki's State of Law bloc⁴.

More than 2.5 million votes were cast in Baghdad during the parliamentary elections - that's more than 20 percent of Iraq's population. 

Overall, Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya bloc gained 91 seats and Prime Minister Maliki's State of Law coalition took 89.  But in Baghdad, Prime Minister Maliki won two more seats than Mr. Allawi.  Both men are Shi'ite.  But Mr. Allawi's party won a majority of Sunni votes.

The prime minister's alliance claims there were voting irregularities in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq.  But international observers say the election was fair.

An Iraqi electoral commission official says the ballot¹ recount is to begin on Saturday, with 11,000 polling stations, and should take no more than 10 days. 

Rend⁵ al-Rahim spoke⁶ about the recount at a forum⁷ in Washington on Iraq's elections. She was a candidate for Iraqiya in the parliamentary elections and heads the private Iraq Foundation in Washington.  She thinks the recount will have a negative impact on Prime Minister Maliki.

"I think a lot of political parties are going to see this as a very dangerous move by Maliki that threatens all of them - that he is bending the rules, bending the law, he's rewriting the election rules," said Rend al-Rahim.

Al-Rahim also contends the recount decision was due to pressure from the Maliki government, not just his coalition, which dismisses those allegations.

"He is trying to manipulate the process in order to get a higher number of seats in the parliament," she said. "And the reason he wants to do that is in order to have the unquestionable, unassailable right to form the government.  He's been resisted, so far, by the major parties who do not want him to be prime minister."

No matter what the outcome, neither Prime Minister Maliki's alliance nor Mr. Allawi's bloc will have enough seats to form a government on its own.  But the party with the most seats in parliament will take the lead in forming a coalition government. 

Joost Hiltermann with the independent International Crisis Group, says the recount is politically dangerous.

"If it is seen as favoring Mr. Maliki that will be highly problematic," said Joost Hiltermann. "I don't see why then Mr. Allawi would accept those results, and it could lead to instability and possibly violence."

Hiltermann says the controversy⁸ over the election results could make it longer to form a new government, and could lead to security problems.

"You have the threat that the security forces may start to fracture because loyalties⁹ are quite uncertain still within the security forces, whether they are to work with the state or towards political leaders with heads of political blocs¹⁰ of often ethnic¹¹ or sectarian character," he said. "And if the security forces start fracturing, then we're in a pre-civil war stage."

Mr. Allawi has warned that if his victory is overturned, there will be very big problems in Iraq.

 

1 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

2 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

4 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

5 rend   

vt.把…撕开，割裂；把…揪下来，强行夺取

参考例句：

• Her scrams would rend the heart of any man.她的喊叫声会撕碎任何人的心。
• Will they rend the child from his mother?他们会不会把这个孩子从他的母亲身边夺走呢？

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

8 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

9 loyalties   

n.忠诚( loyalty的名词复数 )；忠心；忠于…感情；要忠于…的强烈感情

参考例句：

• an intricate network of loyalties and relationships 忠诚与义气构成的盘根错节的网络
• Rows with one's in-laws often create divided loyalties. 与姻亲之间的矛盾常常让人两面为难。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 blocs   

n.集团，联盟( bloc的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The division of Europe into warring blocs produces ever-increasing centrifugal stress. 把欧洲分为作战集团产生了越来越大的离心效果。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The policy of the two blocs was played out. 把世界分为两个集团的政策已经过时了。 来自辞典例句

11 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。