VOA常速英语2007-Vote Counting Under way in Togo's Legislative El

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
15 October 2007

In Togo, vote counting is under way after Sunday's legislative¹ election, the first major challenge to the ruling party. Observers say election day was mostly problem free, except for a shortage of voting supplies. Phuong Tran has more from VOA's West Africa Bureau in Dakar.

More than 3,000 election monitors are tracking the count from the closely watched election in Togo.

The head of an 80-member E.U. monitoring team, Fiona Hall, says there were some problems on Sunday with the new sticker system of verifying ballots².

Observers said some polls in the capital ran out of stickers, which led to delays.

"I think the logistical difficulties that there were over the stickers were really because of the fact it was fairly a last-minute decision to have it and perhaps it was inevitable³ that there would be one or two hiccups," said Hall.

The leading opposition⁴ party, Union of Forces for Change, had pushed to verify the ballots with poll workers' signatures, a plan opposed by the ruling party, Rally for the Togolese People.

Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore suggested using stickers as a compromise and flew in three million just days before the election.

Mr. Compaore had mediated⁵ an agreement between the opposition and ruling party after Togo's deadly presidential poll in 2005 that sent tens of thousands fleeing.

Election monitor Hall says even though some polls did not have enough stickers, people were still able to vote.

But the spokesman for the Union of Forces for Change, Jean Ekloh, says he fears ballots for the opposition will be invalidated because of the stickers.

Ekloh says the party is on guard because in recent elections, the results have not reflected the will of voters.

Since Togo introduced a multi-party system in the early 1990's, elections have been marred⁶ by accusations⁷ of fraud, security crackdowns and bloodshed.

EU election monitor Hall says Sunday's poll is proceeding⁸ better than past elections.

"I think that given that human beings are not perfect, it is probably not possible to have a perfect election," said Hall. "The important thing is to have an election, which overall is very firmly going well, and I think that is where we are at the moment."

But she says it is still too early to evaluate the election.

President Faure Gnassingbe has said he is committed to a transparent⁹ election, and will do everything possible to convince skeptics.

The electoral commission has said results will be available Wednesday, at the earliest.

More than two-thousand candidates from 32 parties, and some independents, are vying¹⁰ for 81 positions.

The European Union and other donors¹¹ have said they will only consider investing more in Togo if it can hold a free and fair election.

1 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

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：

• 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》

3 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

4 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。

5 mediated   

调停，调解，斡旋( mediate的过去式和过去分词 )； 居间促成； 影响…的发生； 使…可能发生

参考例句：

• He mediated in the quarrel between the two boys. 他调解两个孩子之间的争吵。
• The government mediated between the workers and the employers. 政府在工人与雇主间搞调和。

6 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

7 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。

8 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

9 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

10 vying   

adj.竞争的；比赛的

参考例句：

• California is vying with other states to capture a piece of the growing communications market.为了在日渐扩大的通讯市场分得一杯羹，加利福尼亚正在和其他州展开竞争。
• Four rescue plans are vying to save the zoo.4个拯救动物园的方案正争得不可开交。

11 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》