2017年11月08日

キルギスタンの選挙は結果がはじめからわかっている選挙ではなかった。 民主主義の勝利でもなかった。

Kyrgyzstan holds an election that was not a foregone conclusion
Nor was it a triumph of democracy
Oct 21st 2017 | BISHKEK

キルギスタンの選挙は結果がはじめからわかっている選挙ではなかった。
民主主義の勝利でもなかった。

foregone conclúsion:〖a 〜〗初めからわかっている結論; 必然的結果.



AS THE young man hesitated, golden autumn leaves drifted down onto the streets of Bishkek, the relaxed capital of Kyrgyzstan. “It’s a choice between old and new. I can’t decide,” he explained, as he hovered outside the polling station. The choice was as unusual as it was difficult. Kyrgyzstan—a mountainous post-Soviet country of 6m people bordering China—was holding the first genuinely competitive presidential election in Central Asia, a region ruled by strongmen who typically romp home with close to 100% of the vote. 

hovered : I noticed a waiter hovering behind us. 後方にウェイターが控えているのに気づいた
romp:romp home [ín, to víctory]〈人競走馬などが〉(競走試合などで)楽勝する.

In the end a majority of Kyrgyzstan’s voters plumped for old over new, or at least continuity over change, electing Sooronbay Jeyenbekov, a former prime minister anointed by outgoing president Almazbek Atambayev. Mr Jeyenbekov, a dour 58-year-old with all the panache of a Soviet apparatchik, beat his more dynamic rival, Omurbek Babanov, a 47-year-old businessman (and also a former prime minister) with 55% of the vote. That may seem like a comfortable victory by Western standards, but it is a far cry from the 89% Uzbekistan’s president racked up last year, or the 98% polled by the rulers of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in their most recent re-elections. 

plumped: (2名以上選ぶべき場合に)【ただ1人の候補者にだけ】投票する ≪for≫ .
anointed:指名する
dour:頑固な 活気のない
panache:堂々たる態度; 見えっ張り; さっそうとしていること.
far cry from:ほど遠い
racked up:〈利益得点など〉を得る

Mr Babanov, who came second in a field of 11 candidates with 34%, conceded defeat gracefully, defusing fears that the election could spark political turmoil in a country where two presidents have been overthrown in the past 12 years. As Mr Babanov said: “The people have spoken.” Yet in the same breath he complained of electoral misconduct that he believes robbed him, if not of victory, then of a fair fight.

conceded:を(事実だと)(しぶしぶ)認める
gracefully:いさぎよく〈負けるなど〉
defusing :〈緊張など〉を和らげる, 静める.
The government was overthrown in a military coup.:軍事クーデターで政府は転覆した.
in the same breath:今言った言葉に続けてすぐに〔それと相反することを言う〕
misconduct:不正行為 
rob a bank:銀行を襲う

Kyrgyzstan has a biometric voting system that precludes the blatant election-rigging that prevails elsewhere in Central Asia, but international observers listed flaws ranging from vote-buying to media bias and the harnessing of the state to back Mr Jeyenbekov. A deputy prime minister, for example, was caught on film instructing a group of civil servants to vote for him. 

biometric:身体特徴を記録した〈データ情報など〉〘指紋虹彩など〙
precludes:〈事物人が〉〈事〉を不可能にする
blatant:露骨な

Mr Babanov’s rivals also deployed ugly dog-whistle politics, smearing him as unfit to be president because he is half-Turkish and has a Kazakh wife. They also misleadingly edited footage of one of his rallies to portray him as trying to rile members of the Uzbek minority in southern Kyrgyzstan—incendiary tactics in a country where clashes in 2010 between Kyrgyz people and Uzbeks led to hundreds of deaths. 

dog-whistle:特定の人たちだけが分かる
smearing:中傷する
rile:激怒させる
incendiary:扇動的な〈発言など〉.

Mr Atambayev likes to portray himself as a devoted democrat—but to get his handpicked successor elected, he resorted to tricks straight out of the authoritarian playbook. The opposition leader, Omurbek Tekebayev, was jailed ahead of the vote on suspiciously conveniently timed corruption charges. During the campaign some of Mr Babanov’s supporters were arrested, improbably enough, for plotting the violent overthrow of the state. 

handpicked:〜を自分に都合の良いように選ぶ
resorted:resort to violence 暴力に訴える
improbably:ありそうにもないことだが; 異常[奇妙]に; 不思議にも

The defeated candidate fears he may be next to land in prison, after Mr Jeyenbekov promised during a heated television debate to start fighting corruption—a constant blight in Kyrgyzstan—by imprisoning Mr Babanov. Mr Atambayev, for his part, pledged on election day to keep jailing anyone who “pulls stunts”. These tensions may get worse. The ruling party, led by Mr Jeyenbekov, will have to work with the opposition in parliament, including Mr Babanov’s faction, the second largest in the legislature. 

land:That could land him in trouble.:そんなことをしたら彼は面倒なことになるだろう.
blight: (植物に害を及ぼす)菌, 害虫.【前途希望などを】くじくもの, 障害 ≪on≫ . (都市などの)荒廃; 荒廃の原因.
pull a stunt:曲芸飛行をする、妙技[離れ技・世間を驚かす行為]を成功させる[成し遂げる・やってのける]
faction:split into warring [rival] factions 敵対する派閥に分裂する.

By stepping down, Mr Atambayev has broken the mould by giving up power after one term, as the constitution dictates, in a region where leaders tend to die in office and the longest-serving president—Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev—has ruled for over a quarter of a century. But the government’s blatant bias during the campaign was at odds with this apparent diffidence. That has prompted speculation that Mr Atambayev wants to remain the power behind the throne. 

mould:break the mold (従来の)型を破る.
dictates:〈仕事命令など〉を厳しく命令する
at odds with:〜と不和で、〜と争って、〜と意見が食い違って、〜との関係が悪化して
diffidence:自信のなさ 気後れ

By staging the region’s first ever competitive election, Kyrgyzstan has marked itself out as a democracy of sorts. But the true test lies ahead: will the outgoing and incoming presidents allow democracy to flourish, or nip it in the bud? 

nip ~ in the bud:〜をつぼみのうちに摘み取る

キルギスタンの選挙は不正に行われたようだ。初めての投票による選挙だったが、期待されたビジネスマンのOmurbek Babanovは落選し、今までの政権の流れをくむSooronbay Jeyenbekovが当選した。アメリカの選挙と同様に、色々はイカサマが横行し、せっかくの投票が民主主義とは逆行したものになった。

木曜日。今日はこれまで。

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海野 恵一
1948年1月14日生

学歴:東京大学経済学部卒業

スウィングバイ株式会社
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アクセンチュア株式会社代表取締役(2001-2002)
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