VOA标准英语 Indonesia Elections Highlight Challenges, Maturing D

Indonesia, which has has the world's largest Muslim population, holds legislative¹ elections Thursday, amid concerns about vote buying, fraud and some regional violence in the country. But the elections mark a transition for the young democracy.
　
Election officials prepare ballot² boxes to be distributed to polling stations in Jakarta, Indonesia, 8 April 2009

Indonesia's legislative elections span thousands of islands with more than three dozen political parties and tens of thousands of candidates.

A Carter Center election monitoring team senior advisor³, Eric Bjornlund, is one of several groups observing the massive undertaking⁴.

"It is probably the largest electoral exercise in a single day in the world," Bjornlund said. "The few countries in the world that are larger that hold elections do them over many days. India has elections that are not held in a single day. So, this is a very complex process."

The election is Indonesia's third since the 1998 fall of President Suharto, who ruled the nation of islands for more than three decades.

Indonesia has since become an active and relatively⁵ stable and successful democracy compared to many of its neighbors. But concerns have been raised about vote-rigging after fraudulent names and birthdays were uncovered in a local election.

Recent violence in Aceh and Papua has also highlighted the extent of political tensions.

Jakarta Center for Strategic and International Studies researcher Sunny Tanuwidjaja says despite the problems, Indonesia's democracy is stabilizing⁶.

"Although in 1999 we had an election, some would consider it not counted," Tanuwidjaja said. "So, we believe in 2004 we do it pretty successfully and now in 2009 we do a second real direct election in democracy. So, I think if we do pretty well on this, I think we are on the right track towards democratic consolidation⁷."

Tanuwidjaja says post-election instability is now the biggest concern.

Indonesia changed its election rules to weed out smaller parties, and increased the threshold of support needed for parties to field candidates in the July presidential election.

Analysts⁸ say the new rules are likely to increase the number of complaints and challenges to vote counts.

Bjornlund says despite those concerns, the restructuring shows Indonesia's democracy is maturing.

"This creates some possibility for confusion among voters and some possibilities for controversy," Bjornlund said. "But, this is all to be expected and part of sorting out the kind of election system that will provide the kind of accountability and representations that Indonesians want."
　
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delivers speech at palace in Jakarta (2007 file photo)

Polls show the ruling Democratic Party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to win the most support in the elections. His party is seen as the biggest reformer of the parties and has been working to tackle widespread corruption⁹.

Former President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle is expected to get the second-highest number of votes.

While Golkar, the former party of Suharto, is expected to come in third.

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 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。

3 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

4 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

7 consolidation   

n.合并,巩固

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• The state ensures the consolidation and growth of the state economy. 国家保障国营经济的巩固和发展。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

8 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。

9 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。