-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Millions of voters are streaming to the polls across Myanmar in the first relatively1 free election in a quarter of a century.
The chief EU election observer in the country, Alexander Lambsdorff, was upbeat early in the say, but added the election was not free of "flaws or shortcomings." His team plans to remain in Myanmar for a week during the post-balloting process.
Myanmar’s president has vowed3 to cooperate with opposition4 parties for a stable transition should Sunday’s election knock him out of power.
Myanmar Votes in Historic Election
“The government and the military will respect and accept the results," President Thein Sein said Friday as campaigning concluded. "I will accept the new government formed based on the election results.”
Thousands gathered at a rally for the governing Union Solidarity5 and Development Party (USDP) in Yangon, the country’s largest city, at the same place where opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi spoke6 to her supporters last Sunday.
The USDP crowd was significantly smaller than the numbers drawn7 to Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy's rally. Most of those at Friday's USDP gathering8 appeared to be teachers and civil servants brought to the venue9 by the government on public buses.
But much of the support seemed genuine. “We have seen a lot of development during Thein Sein’s five-year presidential term,” said USDP supporter Ma Thadar Aung, a store saleswoman. “We get mobile SIM cards cheaply now.”
Thirty million people are eligible10 to vote in what will be the country’s first election since a nominally11 civilian12 government was established in 2011, a year after opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest and a ban lifted on her National League for Democracy.
Suu Kyi and her party scored a resounding13 victory in 1990 but were prevented from taking power. The NLD is expected to do well again this time against the USDP, which has the backing of the powerful army.
The ruling party contests the election with one decided14 advantage: 25 percent of the seats in parliament are reserved for military officers.
Calls for free, fair vote
Several diplomatic missions, including the United States, joined the United Nations in issuing a statement Friday calling “on all stakeholders to ensure that these elections are conducted peacefully, transparently16, and in accordance with the will of the people.”
Britain's ambassador to Myanmar, Julian Braithwaite, said "a vote that is credible17, inclusive and transparent15 and which represents the will of the people would stand as a lasting18 legacy19" for the current government.
The rights of tens of thousands of people from disenfranchised ethnic20 and religious communities — including the largely Muslim Rohingya people — is a particular concern, the British envoy21 said.
At the U.S. State Department, spokesman John Kirby has said key U.S. officials are closely watching the elections as an index of Myanmar's progress from military dictatorship to democracy.
Amnesty International said the jailing of peaceful activists22, restrictions23 on free speech and other discrimination against minority groups are a serious problem undermining the electoral process in Myanmar.
Burma political experts say the NLD needs to capture 67 percent of the parliamentary seats in Sunday’s election to overcome the military’s veto in the bicameral24 legislature, known as the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, which selects the president.
Suu Kyi, who has urged everyone participating in the general election to ensure a fair, free and smooth vote, is prevented from becoming president even if her party is victorious25. The military junta26 governing in 2008 placed a clause in the constitution barring anyone with a foreign spouse27 or children from holding the highest office. Suu Kyi’s late husband was British, as are her two children.
“I don’t believe Suu Kyi can help us. She married a foreigner. That’s why foreigners might govern our country if she wins this election,” Ma Win May, a villager from Sake Gyi on the outskirts28 of Yangon, said at Friday’s USDP rally.
'Above the president'
Speaking to reporters Thursday at her residence, Suu Kyi said if the NLD prevails she “will be above the president.”
Her comment has some observers, not only in Myanmar, apprehensive29. She did not explain her remarks.
“The president should be under the law. Everybody should be under the law,” David Steinberg, distinguished30 professor of Asian studies at Georgetown University in Washington, told VOA. “All of a sudden I think she is saying she would not be subject to that law. So this is a very important deviation31 from what she has said in the past and her beliefs.”
Nearly 7,000 candidates from 91 parties are running for posts in both houses of parliament.
Myanmar, a former British colony that is also known as Burma, was isolated32 from most of the world for decades after General Ne Win in 1962 staged a coup33, abolishing the Buddhist-majority country’s constitution and its democratic government.
The national election on Sunday is the first since 2011, when nearly 50 years of military dictatorship came to an end in the country.
点击
收听单词发音
![收听单词发音](/images/play.gif)
1
relatively
![]() |
|
adv.比较...地,相对地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
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: |
|
|
3
vowed
![]() |
|
起誓,发誓(vow的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4
opposition
![]() |
|
n.反对,敌对 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5
solidarity
![]() |
|
n.团结;休戚相关 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
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: |
|
|
7
drawn
![]() |
|
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8
gathering
![]() |
|
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9
venue
![]() |
|
n.犯罪地点,审判地,管辖地,发生地点,集合地点 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10
eligible
![]() |
|
adj.有条件被选中的;(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11
nominally
![]() |
|
在名义上,表面地; 应名儿 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12
civilian
![]() |
|
adj.平民的,民用的,民众的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13
resounding
![]() |
|
adj. 响亮的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14
decided
![]() |
|
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15
transparent
![]() |
|
adj.明显的,无疑的;透明的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16
transparently
![]() |
|
明亮地,显然地,易觉察地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17
credible
![]() |
|
adj.可信任的,可靠的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18
lasting
![]() |
|
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19
legacy
![]() |
|
n.遗产,遗赠;先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20
ethnic
![]() |
|
adj.人种的,种族的,异教徒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21
envoy
![]() |
|
n.使节,使者,代表,公使 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22
activists
![]() |
|
n.(政治活动的)积极分子,活动家( activist的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23
restrictions
![]() |
|
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24
bicameral
![]() |
|
adj.两院制的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25
victorious
![]() |
|
adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26
junta
![]() |
|
n.团体;政务审议会 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27
spouse
![]() |
|
n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28
outskirts
![]() |
|
n.郊外,郊区 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29
apprehensive
![]() |
|
adj.担心的,恐惧的,善于领会的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30
distinguished
![]() |
|
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31
deviation
![]() |
|
n.背离,偏离;偏差,偏向;离题 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32
isolated
![]() |
|
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33
coup
![]() |
|
n.政变;突然而成功的行动 | |
参考例句: |
|
|