VOA常速英语2008年-Pakistan Voters Deeply Dissatisfied, Poll Says

By Gary Thomas
Washington
11 February 2008

A new poll released ahead of next Monday's parliamentary elections in Pakistan shows a sharp drop in the popularity of President Pervez Musharraf, and a steep rise in support for opposition¹ parties. As VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports, that could spell trouble for the president's party.

The poll, conducted by the U.S.-based International Republican Institute, shows President Musharraf with an approval rating of only 15 percent, half of what it was in November. Three-quarters of those polled think he should resign.

The poll also shows a sharp rise in the popularity of opposition parties, and especially for the Pakistan Peoples Party of Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated² by a suicide bomber³ in December.

Daniel Markey, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, says that if the poll is correct, and if the elections are free and fair, Ms. Bhutto's party may emerge as the strongest party, even if it does not win an outright⁴ majority.

"The poll very clearly indicates that Musharraf's party, the PML-Q, is deeply unpopular, or more unpopular than it has been in quite some time, and Benazir Bhutto's former party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, is surging, and we're likely to see both of those things play out, which should allow the Pakistan Peoples Party, at least when it comes to national level politics at the center in Islamabad, should put them in a pole [favorable] position when it comes to choosing a prime minister and forming a government," said Markey.

But that assumes that elections will be free and fair. Opposition parties, including the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif, have accused the government of laying the groundwork for a rigged election. The institute's poll shows the Pakistani public overwhelmingly shares that fear. Seventy-nine percent of respondents say that if the party of President Musharraf, the PML-Q, wins the most seats, they will believe that the election has been rigged.

Polls have proved to be wrong at times, as pre-election polls in recent preliminary contests in the U.S. presidential race showed. But Scott Mastic, deputy director of Middle East and North Africa programs at the International Republican Institute, says his organization is confident in its findings.

"Turnout and the safety with which those elections are held all are things that are ultimately going to impact on the outcome of the election," he said. "Based on the polling we've done to date, though, we are reasonably confident in the results of this poll as being an accurate measure of where the Pakistani population stands at this time."

The poll also shows that 89 percent of those surveyed feel that Pakistan should not support the United States in its war on terror. Daniel Markey says that even though many Pakistanis have been victims of terrorism, they believe the Musharraf government's cooperation with the United States is the reason.

"The level of suicide attacks and other violence towards the state but with significant collateral⁵ damage or regular Pakistani citizens suffering is unprecedented⁶ in Pakistani history. And so for the average Pakistani, they connect the dots," he said. "They see cooperation with Musharraf and the United States as having led inevitably⁷ to more violence in their daily lives, and they would like it to stop. And so the natural response is that cooperation should be curtailed⁸, and that President Musharraf should go."

If the main opposition parties win enough seats and can put together a coalition⁹ of a two-thirds majority, that could spell President Musharraf's political end because they would have enough votes to impeach¹⁰ him. But analysts¹¹ point out that the two parties' history of deep animosity towards each other could make any political cooperation between them short-lived and keep Musharraf in office, at least for a while.

1 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。

2 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

3 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

4 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

5 collateral   

adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品

参考例句：

• Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
• Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押，这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。

6 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

7 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

8 curtailed   

v.截断，缩短( curtail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Spending on books has been severely curtailed. 购书开支已被大大削减。
• Their public health programme had to be severely curtailed. 他们的公共卫生计划不得不大大收缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

10 impeach   

v.弹劾；检举

参考例句：

• We must impeach the judge for taking bribes.我们一定要检举法官收受贿赂。
• The committee decided to impeach the President.委员会决定弹劾总统。

11 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。