Russians Begin Voting in Parliamentary Elections

 　　Voters in Russia's far east have begun casting ballots¹ in parliamentary elections that are expected to favor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.

　　The voting Sunday comes amid claims of campaign fraud and unprecedented² intimidation³ of observers.

　　Members of Russia's only independent election monitoring group say their leader was detained for 12 hours Saturday at a Moscow airport.

　　Customs officials held Golos leader Lilya Shibanova at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport after she refused to hand over her laptop to security officers who said they wanted to inspect the computer for illegal software.  She was released after she handed over the computer.

　　The detention⁴ follows an incident Friday in which a Moscow court fined Golos about $1,000 for compiling election law violations⁵ and posting them online.  Golos, (whose name means "vote,") has nearly 5,000 complaints of alleged⁶ violations that it has received via texting, e-mail and telephone.

　　Golos public relations manager Dmitry Merezhko told VOA the court ruling will not stop the group from doing its job Sunday.

　　The airport detention is just the latest incident concerning intimidation of Golos in the run-up to the elections.  A state-run television station aired a program Friday night attacking Golos.

　　Merezhko says the program is more of a concern than the court's ruling, and says he fears it could influence people still making decisions about the elections.  But Merezhko says the group has recently received more public support in return for all the media coverage⁷.

　　Golos told VOA it will protest the court decision, but not until it is done monitoring the vote.

1 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》

2 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

3 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

4 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

5 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

6 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

7 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。