AS IT IS 2016-02-20 Ugandan Presidential Candidate Arrested, Alleges Vote-rigging

AS IT IS 2016-02-20 Ugandan Presidential Candidate Arrested, Alleges¹ Vote-rigging

Uganda held a national election for president Thursday, and there are accusations² of unfair voting practices.

Following the election, Kizza Besigye, a “prominent” candidate for president, was arrested. Besigye and a group of his supporters accused authorities of ballot³ tampering⁴ and changing election results, according to the Ugandan newspaper, the Daily Monitor. He tried to enter a house where he said election results were being changed. Police blocked the candidate from entering the house.

VOA confirmed Besigye was released later in the day Thursday and taken to his home. International Business Times reported he was again arrested Friday morning and remains⁵ in custody⁶.

Besigye has been a candidate for the office of president in the three past elections. He has faced President Yoweri Museveni in past national elections. Museveni has been president of Uganda for 30 years. This election, he faced a challenge from seven opponents.

Museveni was accused of election-rigging and intimidating⁷ voters in the 2006 and 2011 elections.

CNN reported that social media throughout the country was shut down on election day. A government official said social media was not available throughout Uganda for “security reasons.”

News organizations reporting on the election say voter turnout was large. More than 15 million Ugandans were registered to vote.

Because of the large turnout, some voters stood in line seven hours to vote. Voting sites ran out of ballots⁸ and polling stations opened late due to late deliveries of paper ballots.

The problems at the polls and the social media shut down led some voters to question whether the election was being conducted fairly.

One voter said: “If this is happening in Kampala, so close to the Electoral Commission, what is going on in the villages?”

Words in This Story

prominent – adj. important and well-known

tampering – v. to change something especially in a way that causes damage or harm

rigging – v. to control something, such as a game or election, in a dishonest way in order to get a desired result

turnout – n. the number of people who go to or participate in something

1 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

2 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

3 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

4 tampering   

v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄

参考例句：

• Two policemen were accused of tampering with the evidence. 有两名警察被控篡改证据。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• As Harry London had forecast, Brookside's D-day caught many meter-tampering offenders. 正如哈里·伦敦预见到的那样，布鲁克赛德的D日行动抓住了不少非法改装仪表的人。 来自辞典例句

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

7 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

8 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》