014《经济学家》读译参考之十四：小国家大典范-贝宁,非洲政治异端？.docVIP

TEXT 14 Small country, big example Mar 16th 2006 | PORTO-NOVO From The Economist print edition Still an unusual success for democracy—★fingers crossed[1] ON March 5th, Benin went to the polls for the fourth presidential election since multi-party democracy was introduced in 1990: no mean achievement in west Africa. Even more impressive was the fact that President Mathieu Kérékou did not ★stand for[2] re-election, nor did his great rival, Nicéphore Soglo, who was president from 1991-96. Both have passed the constitutions age l_______① of 70. （1）That respect for the constitution goes admirably against Africas trend for heads of state to change the law to stay even longer in office. Benin has fewer than 8m people. It is one of the p______② countries on earth. And yet, in Africa, it is also a democratic ★exemplar[3]. Many of Africas former French colonies brought in multi-party democracy only when forced to by the French—in return for more aid—in June 1990. （2）Having abandoned Marxism, Mr Kérékou, Benins president and military ruler, not only legalised opposition parties several months before then, but also ★stood down[4] after his electoral defeat to Mr Soglo in 1991. So Benin became the first African country where an incumbent ran for re-election, lost and graciously ★bowed out[5]. Since then, d_________③ has implanted itself strongly in the minds of Benins citizens. “Our history is so terrible, with coups and years of problems, that now we all care about democracy very deeply,” says one of them. Still, the election did not go smoothly. Electoral materials, i_________④ voting forms, seals for ballot boxes and even the ★urns[6] themselves turned up late or not at all, causing most polling stations to open hours late. Although they all then stayed open for the regulation nine hours, election officials were often absent and many had not been properly trained. Mr Kérékou blamed the independent electoral commission, hinting that the errors were not accidental. （3）All the