Europeans voted in the last day of European Union parliamentary elections Sunday, with conservative and far-right parties expected to score over the left. Conservatives are expected to control the largest number of seats after election that saw a record low voter turnout.
欧洲人星期天在欧盟议会选举的最后一天投票，预计保守派和极右派政党的得票率将超过左派政党。很多欧洲人对这次选举并不热衷。
The vote is taking place amid the larger backdrop of the economic crisis, and experts predict this dour atmosphere will generally favor conservative parties across the 27-member European Union. Eight EU countries finished voting in the first three days of the elections, with the rest casting their ballots on Sunday.
这次欧盟议会选举是在经济危机的大背景下举行的。有关专家预计，这种令人忧心的气氛一般会对保守派政党有利。在由27个国家组成的欧盟中，8个国家在选举的头三天已经结束投票，其余的国家在星期天进行投票。
Britain's Conservative Party is expected to score major gains against Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labor Party. Conservatives in Poland are also expected to fare well in the vote, as is Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Freedom People's Party in Italy.
英国保守党预计将在同布朗首相的工党的较量中获得较大领先。波兰的保守派预计也会在投票中表现良好，意大利总理贝卢斯科尼的自由人民党也是一样。
In France, too, President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative Union for a Popular Movement party is expected to emerge the winner in the E.U. parliament polls. But here and elsewhere in Europe, the larger sentiment is indifference.
在法国，总统萨科齐的保守派“人民运动联盟”预计将在欧盟议会选举中获胜。但是在欧洲的其他地方，选民们总的来说是漠不关心。
In the Paris suburb of Le Perreux, residents like Lucille Svay and her husband Chan Phal said they had not voted for their EU parliament representatives.
在巴黎的一个郊区，斯威和她的丈夫法尔等当地居民说，他们从来没有为欧盟议会代表投票。
Svay said she likes the idea of a European Union, because individual European countries are too small to wield much clout in world affairs. But she says politicians generally fail to live up to their promises, and the European Union overall seems unable to agree on anything.
斯威说，她喜欢欧盟的构想，因为单个的欧盟国家都太小，不能在世界事务中发挥重大影响。但是她说，政治家通常都不能兑现他们的诺言，而且整个欧盟似乎都无法就任何事情达成一致。
Opinion polls show the Svays are not alone. Fewer than half the European electorate is expected to cast ballots. Many criticize the European Union for not doing enough to tackle the economic crisis, and for either meddling too much or too little in their daily lives.
民调显示，和斯威有同样看法的人并不少。预计不足一半的欧洲选民将参加投票。很多人批评欧盟在应对经济危机的过程中做的不够，在他们日常生活中不是管得太多，就是照顾的不够。
But Ludivine Kedziora, 29, is an EU supporter.
但是29岁的凯季奇拉是欧盟的支持者。
Kedziora says the European Union has granted lots of subsidies to her home region in northern France. This election, she voted for a leftist party because she believes it will do a better job than conservatives to help people cope with the economic crisis.
她说，欧盟向她所在的法国北部地区的家乡提供了很多补贴。她在这次选举中投了一个左派政党的票，因为她相信，左派政党在帮助人民应对经济危机方面会比保守派做得更好。
But analysts predict that far-right parties, many of them running on anti-immigration platforms, will score gains in this vote.
但是分析人士预计，极右派政党会在选举中得到较多的选票。其中很多人都把反移民作为他们的竞选纲领。 |