97 人权组织谴责巴基斯坦选举不公

Human Rights Group Criticizes Pakistani Election
Jon Tkach
Islamabad
3 Jul 2001 16:08 UTC

A human rights group in Pakistan is criticizing Monday's 1)municipal elections as unfair, saying they were 2)fraught with widespread problems and poor planning. The statement comes amid reports that thousands of women were 3)barred from voting in the country's conservative rural areas. As many as 20 million people in 29 districts across Pakistan were 4)eligible to vote in Monday's municipal elections.
They were taking part in the fourth phase of 5)polls to choose local 6)councils, the first elected bodies in the military government's plan to return civilian rule to the country.
The country's Supreme Court has given military leader General Pervez Musharraf until October of next year to hold national elections - and he has said he needs the time to clean up Pakistan's 7)notoriously corrupt and 8)inefficient political system.
Government officials say Monday's voting went smoothly despite violence on the eve of the polls in the port city of Karachi.
But Hina Jilani, of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, says her group's observers again saw widespread problems. "Because where there was so much confusion, where there are so many people who have not been able to exercise their right to vote and where there has been very visible lack of preparation - these elections cannot be considered fair," she said.
Ms. Jilani says 9)discrepancies in voting lists and missing ballots at polling sites across the country kept many people from casting their votes. She also says thousands of women in the country's rural areas were barred from voting by local elders and religious authorities.
The head of the election commission, Tewfiq Fehmi, 10)concedes that many women failed to vote in Monday's election. "That is true to to some extent. But we cannot do anything about it," he said. "This is part of the culture of the area."
He says it is not clear that they were physically barred from voting, and that many may have simply chosen not to go to the polls.
But Ms. Jilani says local leaders use 11)intimidation to keep women away from the polls.
Her group has called on the election commission to 12)fix the problems and hold new elections in areas where women were 13)allegedly barred from voting.

(1) municipal[mju:5nIsIp(E)l]adj.市政的, 市立的, 地方性的
(2) fraught[frC:t]adj.充满...的
(3) bar[bB:(r)]n.条,栅, 障碍物vt.禁止, 阻挡
(4) eligible[5elIdVEb(E)l]adj.符合条件的, 合格的
(5) poll[ pEJl ]n.选举之投票, 民意测验v.投票, 获得选票
(6) council[5kaJns(E)l]n.政务会, 理事会, 委员会, 参议会
(7) notorious[nEJ5tC:rIEs]adj.声名狼籍的
(8) inefficient[InI5fIF(E)nt]adj.效率低的, 效率差的
(9) discrepancy[dI5skrepEnsI]n.相差, 差异, 矛盾
(10) concede[kEn5si:d]vt.勉强, 承认, 退让vi.让步
(11) intimidation胁迫
(12) fix[fIks]vt.使固定, 修理, 准备vi.决定, 选定, 确定n.困境, 方位, 贿赂
(13) allegedly[E5ledVIdlI]adv.依其申述