经济学人:威尔士政治 独立日(2)

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　　Such is the loyalty¹ to Labour in large swathes of Wales that even if people want to give it a bloody² nose,  那么大量威尔士选民将原本给工党的票转投给无党派也就不足为奇了，

　　they are “never quite desperate enough to fall in love with another party,” says Roger Scully, a political scientist at Cardiff University. 来自卡迪夫大学的Roger Scully说：“人们不会绝望到立马成为另外一个党的支持者。”

　　Instead, they vote for candidates who belong to no party. 相反，他们会投给那些无党派人士。

　　Ms Skinner, who describes herself as a socialist³, joined Labour to support its leader, Jeremy Corbyn,  自称是社会党人士的Skinner曾经为了支持工党领导人Jeremy Corbyn而申请加入梅瑟区工党，

　　but was turned off the Merthyr branch by what she calls the “old boys' club” that runs it. 但是由于她称当地领导阶层是“老男孩俱乐部”而被赶出。

　　Lisa Mytton, an independent who is now vying⁴ to lead the Merthyr council, also testifies to her strong Labour background. 目前正在争夺梅瑟议会领导位置的Lisa Mytton也证实了自己的工党背景。

　　About half of Merthyr's independents are ex-Labour supporters who were put off at one time or another by its local machine. 梅瑟地区大约一半的无党派人士都有工党背景，但都因为不同的原因被当地政治机制踢了出来。

　　The profusion⁵ of independents also owes something to the animosity towards the Tories in Wales. 威尔士之所以有这么多无党派人士，还是因为威尔士人民对托利党的厌恶。

　　The loss of jobs in the local coalmining and steelmaking industries in the 1980s is intimately associated with Margaret Thatcher⁶. 二十世纪八十年代采矿业和炼钢业的失业情况与Margaret Thatcher密切相关。

　　Thus, as one Tory official concedes, the party has an image problem. 因此，正如一位托利党员承认的那样，他们存在形象上的问题。

　　Some independents in rural Powys, for instance, are conservative by inclination⁷ but won't use the party label. 比如在波伊思的一些无党派人士就算有保守党的倾向，也绝不会给自己贴上托利党的标签。

　　The official Tory party put up a record 628 candidates in Wales on May 4th. 5月4日，托利党公布了威尔士628个该党竞选人名额。

　　But still, logistically the party barely operates in many parts. 但从逻辑上看，托利党在很多方面一无是处。

　　Even this time, with the party buoyant in the national polls, it did not compete much in places like Merthyr. 即使在这次国家大选中托利党势头很猛，但是在像梅瑟这样的地方，他们还是不受欢迎。

　　In some places the lack of competition is unhealthy. 但是有些地方缺少这种竞争也并不是好现象。

　　Almost 100 candidates, 7% of the total, were returned unopposed. 几乎100个竞选者中，7%的人没有获得任何阻拦。

　　The first-past-the-post voting system makes it especially hard for challengers to break through  简单多数票当选制使得有异议的人很难有所突破

　　(Scotland, by contrast, uses a form of proportional representation, which helps small parties). （相反，苏格兰采取能够给小型政党成功机会的比例代表制）。

　　Wales's many independents enliven its democracy, but they are also a symptom of its sickliness. 威尔士的无党派人士给当地民主带来了生机，但是也表现出了他们的疲软。

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