Cameron, Miliband Locked in Too-Close-to-Call British Election

British voters head to the polls Thursday for a parliamentary election that opinion polls show is too close to predict.

周四，英国选民前往投票站参加议会选举，民意调查显示，参选两党所获支持十分接近，结果难以预测。

Results of a national survey Wednesday showed Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party with support from 33 percent of British voters. Ed Milliband’s main opposition Labor party was just one point behind.

周三的一项全国调查显示，首相大卫·卡梅伦的保守党获得33%的支持率，而以艾德·米利班德为首的工党仅仅落后一个百分点。

The polling suggests that the election results could force either of Britain’s two main political parties to form a new coalition government with any of several parties collecting a smaller share of seats in the 650-member House of Commons.

民调显示，选举结果将迫使英国两大政党同一些小党派共同组成新一届联合政府，这些小的党派在650席位的下议院占有较少席位。

Analysts are calling the election Britain’s most unpredictable and consequential in a generation.

分析师称之为英国有史以来最为难解难分的选举。

Cameron has promised if re-elected to hold a referendum on whether Britain should stay in the 28-nation European Union. The question of Scottish independence from Britain remains as a key issue. Scottish nationalists lost a plebiscite last year, but could emerge with the third biggest bloc of seats in Thursday’s voting and form a coalition with the Labor party.

卡梅伦承诺，若连任就召开全民公投来决定英国是否脱离已有28个成员国的欧盟。同时，苏格兰独立问题仍然是是关键议题。苏格兰民族党在去年的独立公投中失败，但有可能在获得周四选举中第三多的席位，同工党联合起来。

Cameron, Britain’s leader since 2010, and Miliband have both cast the election as a referendum on the country’s economy, the world’s fifth largest.

自从2010年当选英国首相的卡梅伦，和米利班德都决定通过公投来决定英国这个世界第五大实体的经济走向。

’People really want to think carefully before casting their vote," Cameron said at a campaign stop at a farm, "but I believe when the crunch comes, when they ask themselves the question: Do I trust Ed Miliband with the economy or do I want to stick with a plan and a team that’s turning the country round? I think we can do very well on Thursday and cross that line."

“民众在投票之前都要再三思考，”卡梅伦在一处农庄停留竞选时说道：“但我相信危机来临的时候，他们会自问：我是相信埃德·米利班德的经济政策呢？还是想要依照自己的意愿来选择方案和团队来扭转这个国家的经济？我认为我们可以在周四的大选中获胜。

Miliband has attempted to characterize Cameron’s Tories as the party of the wealthy.

米利班德曾试图揭露以卡梅伦为首的保守党的富人阶层。

"This is the clearest choice that has been put before the British people for a generation," Miliband said, "between a Tory government that works only for the privileged few or a Labor government that will put working families first."

“为了下一代，这个摆在英国人面前的选择再清楚不过了。”米利班德说道：“在只为特权阶层服务保守党政府，和优先考虑工薪家庭工党政府之间选择。

More than 45 million people are eligible to vote at 50,000 polling stations set up throughout Britain.

将有超过4500万符合条件的选民在全英境内5万个投票站进行投票。

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来源:VOA双语新闻爱语吧作者:孙梦光