美国国家公共电台 NPR--In Kenya's presidential election, William Ruto is declared the winner

In Kenya's presidential election, William Ruto is declared the winner

Transcript¹

Kenya endured a tense night after it was announced that Ruto had narrowly defeated his rival in the country's presidential election. Across the capital Nairobi, scenes of celebration mixed with anger.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

According to the head of an election commission, Kenya has a new president-elect.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The current deputy president, William Ruto, narrowly defeated his challenger. In some parts of Kenya, people received the news with violent protests; others celebrated².

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing in non-English language).

FADEL: The announcement follows a bitter election and a chaotic³ announcement of the results.

INSKEEP: All of which NPR's East Africa correspondent Eyder Peralta has been covering. He is in Nairobi. Hey there, Eyder.

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE⁴: Hey, Steve.

INSKEEP: So how did yesterday unfold?

PERALTA: It was chaos⁵. First off, right before an announcement, 4 out of the 7 electoral commissioners⁷ in the country defected. They left the main tallying⁸ center and told reporters that the counting was, quote, "opaque⁹" and they couldn't stand by the final result. And it's important to note that one of the lead candidates in this race had already made claims of rigging. And so the electoral chief pressed on after this happened, and when he got on stage to announce the results, he was attacked. A mob just jumped onstage. They hit some elections officials with chairs. And somehow, the choir¹⁰ kept singing. And somehow, the commissioner⁶ came back onstage and declared the results. He said that Deputy President William Ruto had beat Kenya's longtime opposition¹¹ leader, Raila Odinga by a slim margin¹², less than 2% of the vote.

INSKEEP: I don't want to get lost in the intricacies of Kenyan election law, but if 4 of the 7 members of the commission defected and did not accept the results, but the head of the commission said the results, those are the results? That is - it's legal, that this is a final, final finding?

PERALTA: Well, look, the opposition leader, the loser here, has seven days to take this to court, and I'm sure that will be litigated.

INSKEEP: What have you been hearing and seeing outside of that chaotic and attacked announcement of the election results?

PERALTA: So, look, last night, we heard celebration but also anger because this is a bitterly divided country, as that result tells you. It's almost 50/50. And at least a couple of people were killed in the violent protests that erupted last night. But then as the night wore on and the fire started to die down, I heard reflection. I spoke¹³ to a young guy, Martin Iming'a, and he was hoping that the violence that we had seen earlier wouldn't turn tribal¹⁴, as it has done before here in Kenya. Essentially¹⁵, he said he was hoping that Kenyans wouldn't once again get dragged into the disagreements of their politicians. Let's listen.

MARTIN IMING'A: My - I'm from Maasai. I'm a Maasai. My neighbor is a Luo. If I go to my neighbor, he's the one who will give me salt, if I don't have salt. So if I think something beyond elections, then I will not fight my neighbor.

INSKEEP: I want to understand what exactly is going on with the opposition here, Eyder, which seems to be the key question. We in the United States witnessed in the last couple of years a circumstance in which a presidential candidate had clearly a strategy. He talked about how the election was going to be fraudulent months before. And then on the night of the election, according to plan, declared himself the winner without any evidence that he was the winner whatsoever¹⁶. It was just a lie, but it was part of a larger strategy. When Odinga stopped short of accepting the election results, is that, as far as you can tell, a strategy? Or is he just waiting for the final, final, final result? What's going on here?

PERALTA: I think it's a strategy. Raila Odinga has run five presidential campaigns before. And the last time around he ran, he lost. The courts here threw out that first election. They reran it. And right now, this started as one of the most credible¹⁷ elections that Kenya has run. They made public raw data about 46,000 polling stations. And he is saying that they're rigged, but he's providing no evidence for it so far.

INSKEEP: Eyder, thanks for the update, really appreciate it.

PERALTA: Thank you, Steve.

INSKEEP: NPR's Eyder Peralta is in Nairobi.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

6 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

7 commissioners   

n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官

参考例句：

• The Commissioners of Inland Revenue control British national taxes. 国家税收委员管理英国全国的税收。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The SEC has five commissioners who are appointed by the president. 证券交易委员会有５名委员，是由总统任命的。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

8 tallying   

v.计算，清点( tally的现在分词 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• In 2007 the state set a U.S. record, tallying 141 twisters. 该州在2007年以总计出现了141个龙卷风而创下了一个美国记录。 来自互联网
• We charge extra fee at 100% of the rates of tallying fees. 我们按理货收费率的100%收取附加费。 来自互联网

9 opaque   

adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的

参考例句：

• The windows are of opaque glass.这些窗户装着不透明玻璃。
• Their intentions remained opaque.他们的意图仍然令人费解。

10 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

12 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

13 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。

14 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

15 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

16 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

17 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？