Polls will open in less than 24 hours for Lebanon's parliamentary elections, and civil servants are preparing polling stations and ballot boxes for Sunday's crucial vote. International election monitors, including former president Jimmy Carter, will be overseeing the voting process.
还有不到24小时黎巴嫩就要举行议会选举，政府公务人员正在各个投票站做着各项准备工作，并准备好选票箱，迎接星期天至关重要的选举。包括美国前总统吉米.卡特在内的国际选举观察员将监督这次的投票过程。
Lebanese civil servants, who oversee polling stations have been dispatched to their assigned posts across the country, and paper ballots, along with plastic ballot boxes have been expedited to each electoral district.
负责管理投票站的黎巴嫩政府公务员都被派到了他们分管的全国各地的投票站点，选票和塑料票箱也都已经发送到各选区。
Beirut's acting governor, Naseef Kaloush told reporters that all systems were go in the capital when polling begins Sunday.
贝鲁特省代理省长纳西夫.卡劳什对记者说：“星期天投票开始时，首都所有的准备工作都已就绪。”
There have been complaints, however, in other far-flung electoral districts such as the West Bekaa, bordering Syria. One teacher, who is in charge of a polling station in Baalbek Hermel complained that the "situation is chaotic."
不过，一些偏远选区存在不满情绪，如跟叙利亚接壤的西贝卡谷地。负责巴勒贝克-希尔米勒选区投票站的一位教师抱怨说，那里的“情况混乱”。
At another polling station near the Christian Bekaa Valley town of Zahle, the situation appeared under control, with security forces guarding the area in an armed personnel carrier.
在克里斯琴-贝卡谷地城镇扎赫勒附近的另外一个投票站，那里的局面看上去得到了控制，武装运兵车上的安全部队人员正在守卫那个地区。
Lebanon's top political leaders, including those of the pro-Western March 14th movement such as Druze chief Walid Jumblatt, former president Amin Gemayel and parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri all went on TV urging supporters to vote.
包括亲西方的“3.14运动”领导人在内的黎巴嫩高层政界领导人全都通过电视敦促支持者参加投票。他们中有德鲁兹教派领袖瓦利德.琼布拉特、前总统阿明.杰马耶勒和议会多数派领袖萨阿德.哈里里等。
There have been some charges of unfair election tactics, including the forging of national ID cards. Interior Minister Ziad Baroud insisted to reporters that he thinks such forging is difficult, if not impossible.
有人指责这次选举存在不公正的做法，包括使用伪造的国籍识别证件。黎巴嫩内政部长兹耶德.巴鲁德向记者强调，他认为这类造假如果可能的话，也非常困难。
He says that no forging is possible, at all, on the personal identity card, issued to each citizen by the Interior Ministry, because of all the sophisticated technical and security features on the card. He also notes that forging of ID cards and use of forged cards is illegal and those caught forging will be punished.
巴鲁德说，在个人身份证上造假根本不可能，因为内政部在这张卡上使用了所有的尖端技术并具有全部的安全防伪特性。他还提到，伪造身份卡和使用伪造的身份卡都是违法行为，一经查出将受到惩罚。
There have been other accusations by all parties of unfair electoral tactics such as buying votes, religious edicts to vote for a specific candidate and the flying in of candidates from outside the country to vote.
各个方面还指责存在贿选、为了让某一个侯选人得到选票而发布宗教法令以及候选人从国外回来参选。
Former President Jimmy Carter, who is overseeing the election as an international observer, insists that the use of money to buy votes is probably equal on both sides of the political divide and that flying voters into Lebanon is not illegal.
美国前总统吉米.卡特强调，出钱贿选可能在两个政治派别中都存在，选民从国外回到黎巴嫩参选也不属违法行为。卡特做为国际观察员监督这次选举。
"Both sides are complying with existing law, which permits, for instance, the purchase of airplane tickets all the way from Australia, or Alaska or Africa into Lebanon to vote, but that's existing law," he said. "It's not illegal. And whether the use of money from Iran is greater or less than the influx of money from Saudi Arabia is something that we can't quantify, and if it apparently balances out, pretty much equal violation on both sides, then we believe that the will of the people can be expressed freely, tomorrow."
Mr. Carter thinks that the worst potential problem is not with the actual electoral process, but what happens after the votes are tallied.
卡特认为，最严重的潜在问题不是实际的选举过程，而是选票清点之后可能发生的事情。
"The biggest potential problem is the vow by some of the leaders of the March 14th coalition that they will not participate if they lose, and that's something that will have to be addressed after the election is over. Nobody knows who's going to win, and we hope that all of the outside forces, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia and others will stay neutral and support a coalition government after the election is over," he said.
卡特说：“最严重的问题是一些3.14联盟领导人发出的誓言，他们说如果失败就不会参加联合政府，这是选举结束之后必须要解决的问题。谁也不知道哪位侯选人获胜，我们希望所有的外部势力、包括美国和沙特阿拉伯等在选举结束后都保持中立，支持成立联合政府。”
He points out that he's been a monitor for 76 previous elections and that "all of them have been in trouble in some way." But, despite the various allegations of fraud already flying in the air, he stresses that this is "not the worst election, in any case."
卡特指出，他此前担任过76次监督员，所有选举都不同程度遇到麻烦。不过，尽管各种选举造假的指称满天飞，卡特坚持认为，“无论如何这不会是最糟糕的选举。” |