Voters in Angola went to the polls Friday to elect a new parliament, in the country's first elections in 16 years. Turnout was massive, but numerous irregularities and technical problems were reported.
安哥拉选民星期五前往投票站选举新议会，这是安哥拉16年来举行的第一次全国大选。选民投票踊跃。不过据报道，投票过程中发生了大量违规现象和技术问题。
Angolans turned out to vote early Friday forming long lines before dawn outside the country's 14,000 voting stations.
安哥拉人星期五一大早就前往投票站。在破晓之前，1万4千个投票站外面就排起长长的队伍。
Maria Adao Pedro de Souza, an elderly mother of eight, says she woke up at five o'clock to be the first to cast her ballot at her polling center on a dusty street in the Kiambo Kiaxi district of northern Luanda.
年迈的德苏莎是8个孩子的母亲，她说她清晨5点就起床了，想成为她所在投票中心第一个投票的人。这个投票站设在罗安达北边基安博.基亚希区一条尘土飞扬的街道上。
She says the voting went well. It was well organized and went better than the first time in 1992.
她说：“投票进展顺利，组织得不错，比1992年的第一次投票好。”
Law student Izau Lourenco says he came early to exercise his civil right.
法律专业学生洛伦索说，他来得很早，来履行自己的公民权利。
He says the new government needs to give priority to education and health because there are not enough schools and hospitals in the country. And he says it must show progress in these areas quickly because there will be new elections in four years.
“新政府需要优先发展教育和卫生事业，因为安哥拉的学校和医院数量不足。他还说，新政府必须尽快让人们看到这两方面的进步，因为4年之后又要选举了。”
However, the polling did not go smoothly everywhere. In many outlying areas of Luanda, polling places opened hours late because they lacked ballot papers, voter registration lists or ballot boxes.
然而，并不是每个地方的投票都进展顺利。罗安达许多边远地区的投票站由于缺少选票、没有选民登记册或者没有票箱，因此投票推迟了好几个小时。
As the sun rose higher and the intensified, shoemaker Joao Paulo became angry after waiting several hours to cast his ballot at a polling only a few hundred meters away.
太阳已经升得老高，天气也更加炎热，鞋匠祖奥.保罗越来越气愤，为了投票，他在只有几百米远的投票站等了好几个小时。
He says things are going badly here. We have been waiting a long time. They promised to open at seven o'clock. We have been here since 5:30 and nothing is happening.
保罗说：“这里情况糟透了。我们等了很久。他们保证投票站早上7点开门。我们5点半就到了，到现在一点动静都没有。”
The National Electoral Commission later took responsibility for the delays and by midday most polling places were operational. But as the day drew to a close many voters, particularly in outlying areas of Luanda, were seen still milling around some polling places, unable to vote because these had run out of ballot papers.
安哥拉全国选举委员会后来为投票推迟承担了责任，到了中午，大多数投票站都正常运转了。不过，在当天的投票快要结束的时候，许多选民，特别是罗安达边远地区的选民仍在有些投票站附近不知所措的乱转，因为选票已经用光了，他们无法投票。
Independent observer groups confirmed the problems and one of them by the end of the day had recorded more than 200 irregularities, mostly due to technical problems. Few incidents of violence were reported.
独立观察员组织证实了这些问题，其中一个组织在当天投票结束时已经记录到200多起违规行为，其中大部分是由于技术问题所致。整个投票过程几乎没有发生暴力事件的报道。
A network of 2,500 Angolan observers, called Plataforma, protested after most of its 350 observers in populous Luanda Province were denied accreditation and some 100 observers in Huambo province, another hotly contested area, were only given credentials at the last minute.
“平台”是一个由2500名安哥拉人组成的庞大观察员组织，这个组织提出抗议，因为该组织派350名观察员到人口稠密的罗安达省，可是绝大多数观察员没有得到许可。这个观察员组织还向万博省派去大约100名观察员，他们在最后一刻才拿到许可。万博省也是竞争激烈的省份。
National Coordinator, Onesimo Setacula told VOA he was shocked because his group had worked with the National Electoral Commission during the voter registration process.
观察员组织“平台”全国协调员塞塔库拉说，这个组织在选民登记过程中一直跟全国选举委员会合作，因此发生这样的事让他感到震惊。
He says this appears to a deliberate effort to muzzle an impartial, non-political voice that was entering the electoral process for the first time.
塞塔库拉说：“看来是有人故意压制公正、非政治的声音，这种声音第一次进入选举过程。”
The Angolan government spent millions of dollars registering voters and funding the campaign. It is hoping the elections will put to rest the legacy of more than four decades of conflict, including a lengthy struggle for independence and a 27-year civil war.
安哥拉政府耗费数百万美元用于选民登记，资助竞选。人们希望这次选举能够解决安哥拉40多年冲突的遗留问题，包括争取独立的长期斗争和27年的内战。
More than 5,000 candidates competed for 220 seats in the legislative body.
The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) hopes to win a two-thirds majority that would allow it to change the Angolan constitution without opposition support.
But the main opposition party, the Union for the Total Liberation of Angola (UNITA), hopes to gain seats by campaigning for change after three decades of MPLA political domination. Twelve smaller parties campaigned on similar platforms.
The government pledged a level playing field for all candidates and each was granted five minutes nightly on national television during the campaign. But opposition politicians and human rights groups said the government used its patronage and resources to dominate the campaign.
The vote is seen as a first test in anticipation of presidential elections next year. |