伊拉克议会选举低投票率 年轻人不再信任美式民主

MARTIN: OK. So the good news from Iraq's parliamentary election is that voting ended with no major violence. The bad news-a whole lot of people just didn't vote.

马丁:好的。因此，伊拉克议会选举的好消息是，投票结束时没有发生重大暴力事件。坏消息是，很多人都没有投票。

MARTINEZ: The Iraqis are tired of elections that fail to address corruption, poor public services and the growth of powerful militias. And young activists who organized mass demonstrations in 2019 even urged people to boycott the election. Now, against that backdrop, it looks like the usual parties will hold on to power. But the vote offers a window into the health of Iraq's democracy.

马丁内斯:伊拉克人厌倦了不能解决腐败、糟糕的公共服务和民兵组织扩张问题的选举。2019年组织大规模示威的年轻活动人士甚至力劝人们抵制选举。现在，在这样的背景下，看起来往常的政党将继续掌权。但是这次投票为伊拉克民主的健康状况打开了一扇窗户。

MARTIN: How was election day itself?

马丁:选举日情况怎么样?

SHERLOCK: Well, we visited polling stations around Baghdad. And whilst there was a heavy security presence, the atmosphere was calm. Many voters had dressed in their best, and some brought families with them, like Hashem Muthawi.

夏洛克:我们参观了巴格达周围的投票站。虽然有大量的安保人员在场，但氛围很平静。许多选民穿上了他们最好的衣服，一些人还带来了家人，比如哈什姆·穆萨维。

He was there with his little granddaughter. She was far too young to vote, but the polling station staff had let her stick her finger in the ink just to - just like the adults so that she felt included. Muthawi told me he's voted in all the elections so far in Iraq, even in the earlier days when it was dangerous and voters were sometimes threatened.

他和他的小孙女在一起。她还太小不能投票，但投票站的工作人员让她把手指伸进墨水里，就像成年人一样，让她觉得自己也在其中。穆萨维告诉我，到目前为止，他在伊拉克的所有选举中都投了票，即使是在早期危险，选民偶尔会受到威胁的时候。

SHERLOCK: So he says, "The right to elections is a victory for Iraq. During Saddam Hussein's regime, it was impossible for Iraqis to vote, so now it's important to exercise that right."But, Rachel, a lot of Iraqis don't see it this way and, instead, decided to stay home.

夏洛克:所以他说，“拥有选举权利是伊拉克的胜利。在萨达姆·侯赛因统治时期，伊拉克人不可能投票，所以现在行使这一权利很重要。”但是，蕾切尔，很多伊拉克人不这么看，他们决定留在家里。

MARTIN: So A alluded to the reasons why earlier, but just say more about why turnout was so low.

马丁:有人之前提到了原因，不过我想多谈谈投票率这么低的原因。

SHERLOCK: Well, first, just to tell you a bit about it, the turnout was 41% yesterday. That's the lowest ever. It was about 44% in 2018. And this year, Iraq had made some changes to the election law that were meant to inspire voters to come out to the polls.

夏洛克:首先，跟你说一点，昨天的投票率是41%。 这是有史以来最低的了。2018年，这一比例约为44%。今年，伊拉克对选举法做了一些修改，旨在鼓励选民出来投票。

But clearly, it hasn't worked. Even at the bigger polling stations I went to, you know, there were lots of empty voting rooms with staff sitting around. Some voters did show up, but they'd come to spoil their ballots in protest.

但很明显，并没有起作用。即使在我去过的较大的投票站，你知道，也有很多空的投票室，工作人员坐在那里。一些选民确实出现了，但他们会来破坏选票以示抗议。

And the reason for all this is because there's massive disappointment in the political system. Iraq is this oil-rich country, and yet its public services, like hospitals, are failing. There's poor governance, and political parties siphon off state funds for their own political projects.

造成这一切的原因是人们对政治体系非常失望。伊拉克是一个石油资源丰富的国家，然而它的公共服务，比如医院，却在走下坡路。 政府管理不善，政党抽调国家资金用于自己的政治项目。

MARTIN: So what does that mean for the results in this election?

马丁:那这次选举结果意味着什么?

SHERLOCK: Well, look. It's too early to know the results, but there are two major groups to watch out for. One is the movement of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who's running on a nationalist agenda. And then there's the bloc of Shia political parties who are allied with Iran. The U.S. will be watching these especially closely, as they've been calling for all U.S. troops to leave.

夏洛克:嗯,看。现在知道结果还为时过早，但有两个主要群体值得关注。一个是什叶派神职人员穆克塔达·萨德尔的运动，他正在推行民族主义议程。还有与伊朗结盟的什叶派政党集团。 美国将特别密切关注这些事件，因为他们一直在呼吁所有美国军队撤离。

These parties are the political representations for militias who fought ISIS, or Daesh, as people here call the group, when the Iraqi army collapsed. One supporter didn't want to give his name because he fears dangerous repercussions if his neighbors know how he voted. He tells us this when he refers to the political militia called Hashd al-Shaabi.

这些政党是在伊拉克军队崩溃时，与ISIS作战的民兵组织的政治代表，当地人称ISIS为达伊沙。一位支持者不愿透露自己的名字，因为他担心如果邻居知道他是怎么投票的，后果很危险。当他提到政治民兵组织Hashd al-Shaabi时，他告诉了我们这件事。

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: When the Daesh come to the - our country, only the Hashd al-Shaabi has come and stopped them. If Daesh enter to Baghdad and other place, they kill everybody.

身份不明者:当达伊沙进入我们国家时，只有哈什·沙比来阻止他们。如果达伊沙进入巴格达和其他地方，他们会杀死所有人。

SHERLOCK: You know, he's afraid that ISIS might come back. And like most Iraqis we spoke with in this election, he really just wants a country that's safe where he can live a good life.

夏洛克:你知道，他害怕ISIS返回来。就像我们在这次选举中交谈过的大多数伊拉克人一样，他真的只是想要一个安全的国家，在那里他可以过上好日子。