引自紐約時報網站
http://www.nytimes.com
/2008/07/20/world/asia/20india.html?_r=1&ref=asia&oref=slogin
Closer Ties With the United States
Could Cost India's Prime Minister His Government
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Published: July 20, 2008
NEW DELHI — A deepening friendship with the Bush administration has pushed
the elected government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the brink of its
own demise. Now, with a confidence vote in Parliament scheduled to begin this
week, the government’s scramble to stay in power and its rivals’ efforts to
oust it have set off an intense and often brazen round of political
bargaining.
印度總理曼默漢‧辛格與布希政府間的緊密關係，使得他的政府走向垮台邊緣。
印度國會將於本週進行信任投票，正反兩方為此展開激烈且無恥的政治交易。
The confidence vote appears to be extremely close for Mr. Singh’s Congress
Party-led coalition government, and the stakes high. If the government wins a
power until its five-year term ends next May. If it loses, national elections
will be scheduled sooner — not an inviting prospect for an incumbent
government troubled by rising food and fuel costs.
一般預期，信任投票結果將差距極微，代價卻極高。執政聯盟倘若贏得543席次中
的過半支持，將可安然完成五年任期至明年五月屆滿。反之，將迅速進行國會改選。
而國會改選對現在受制於油、糧價格雙漲的政府而言，前景堪虞。
Indian politicians, and those who study them, remember that 10 years ago, a
government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, now the main national
opposition, lost a confidence motion in Parliament by a single vote.
熟悉印度政界的人士相信仍然記得，現為印度主要在野黨的印度人民黨，十年
前就曾在國會信任投票中落敗。
Inder Malhotra, a veteran political columnist here, predicted that
Mr. Singh’s administration would survive or perish by only three or four
votes, and that because of what he described as “dirty deals, otherwise
called horse-trading.”Mr. Malhotra, who has been observing Indian
politics for 60 years, said, “I have sadly to admit that never before
have I witnessed a murkier scene.”
觀察印度政治長達60年的資深專欄作家印德‧馬爾赫札預測，在激烈的所謂
骯髒政治交易過後，辛格政權的存續關鍵可能只有三或四席的差距。他表示：
「我只能哀傷地說，從未見過比這次更黑暗的交易。」
Consider the storm over how votes are being wooed for and against Mr. Singh.
One of his new foes from the Communist Party accused his administration of
trying to buy votes for more than $5 million each. The accuser offered no
evidence. One of Mr. Singh’s new friends, from the regional Samajwadi
Party, issued a list of proposed policies that would reward one of the
party’s corporate friends.
之前同為執政聯盟，現已反目的一位共產黨政敵指控，辛格政權開價每票5百萬
企圖賄選，但指控者並未提供證據。另一方面，近來轉向支持執政聯盟的地方性政黨
－社會黨人士，則發表一系列政策建議，以酬謝社會黨的企業界友人。
In a bid to attract three votes from a tiny regional party, the government
last week renamed an airport in northern Lucknow after the party chief’s
father, Charan Singh, a former Indian prime minister. “It will facilitate
better take offs and landings,” the country’s finance minister, P.
Chidambaram, joked Thursday, when asked why the government had changed the
name now.
另外，為籠絡地方政黨，辛格政府上週以該地方政黨首腦之父，也是印度前總理
查朗‧辛格（Charan Singh）為名，替陸克瑙（Lucknow）北方的一座機場命名。印度
財政部長奇達巴朗上週四被媒體詢及此事時，尚且笑稱：「這會讓機場起降更順利。」
Over the past several days, the national dailies have kept a running count of
the votes for and against the prime minister’s Congress Party-led coalition
government. “Jailbirds Out,” announced a box, above the fold, in The Times
of India on Thursday. It enumerated how many members of Parliament, either
convicted or charged in crimes ranging from murder to extortion, would be
freed on bail to cast their vote; so far, there are six.
印度的全國性報紙過去幾天均持續統計信任案正反面態度的票數。而印度時報
週四在頭版刊出的「囚犯出籠」新聞，舉出共有六位涉嫌犯罪或已被起訴的國會議
員，可能因為信任案的政治交易而獲得自由，他們所犯下的罪名從謀殺到勒索不等。
On Saturday, in a potentially important blow to Prime Minister Singh, a
senior Samajwadi Party leader, Shahid Siddiqui, defected and said he would
vote against the government.
上週六，資深社會黨領導人沙伊‧西迪奎（Shahid Siddiqui）脫離執政聯盟並
表示將投下不信任票，對辛格帶來重大威脅。
Of the 543 members of Parliament, Mr. Singh’s coalition needs at least 272
to survive. The two-day parliamentary debate and vote are scheduled to begin
Monday. Exactly how many are in the pro-government column is still unclear,
with speculation about whether some would defect or vote against their
respective party lines, or not vote at all. The foreign minister and a
veteran Congress Party leader, Pranab Mukherjee, said Friday that his party “
is not into horse-trading” and predicted that the government would survive.
本週一開始，印度國會將進行前後兩天的辯論與投票，在總數543張有效票中，
執政聯盟需要至少272票才能繼續執政，但支持票數迄今未明，國會議員是否貫徹
政黨決議的相關臆測頗多。印度外長暨資深國大黨領導人莫科吉上週五表示，國大
黨不會參與政治交易，他並預測執政聯盟會順利過關。
The governing coalition, known as the United Progressive Alliance, was
cobbled together with support from several Communist parties after elections
in May 2004. From the start, it was a fragile arrangement, vexed by policy
disagreements on issues like fuel subsidies and privatization of state-owned
companies. But perhaps the most contentious rift involved a nuclear deal
initiated by the United States.
2004年5月選後執政的團結進步聯盟，是部分共產政黨支持之下成立。然而各
政黨間對能源補助、國有企業民營化等政策的立場相左，使得聯盟在執政之初就
顯得脆弱。但導致分裂的最大因素可能來自各政黨對美國提出的民用核能協議立場
分歧。
The governmnt was pushed to seek a confidence vote this month when its
onetime backers from the Communist parties, with 59 votes, withdrew support,
after the government announced that it would go ahead with the long-stalled
nuclear accord.
由於掌握國會59席的共產黨，在政府宣布維持核能協議後撤銷支持執政聯盟，
執政聯盟被迫尋求信任投票。
If completed, the agreement would allow India to buy nuclear fuel and
technology on the world market. India’s next steps are to secure the
approval of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna and the
45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group, before it can obtain final approval from
the United States Congress.
印度與美國的民用核能協議如果簽訂完成，印度將能從全球市場中購買核燃料
與技術。在獲得美國國會最終同意之前，印度的下一步將是尋求國際原子能總署以
及45國核供應集團的核准。
The Communists oppose the nuclear accord on the ground that it would
strengthen a strategic relationship with the United States.
由於核能協議將強化印度與美國的關係，共產黨反對協議落實。
Mahesh Rangarajan, a political analyst, said some of the government’s top
leaders had already lost luster because of how they had traded allies. “Even
if they win, they will have paid a very high price,” he said. “They have
politically damaged themselves.”
印度政治分析家蘭卡拉強表示，執政聯盟的眾領導人已因出賣盟友的行為而
失去名譽。「即使信任投票獲得勝利，也將付出相當高代價，他們已經在政治上
自我傷害」。
Several small, marginal parties and independents continued to jockey for
various sops. One party was reported to be seeking two cabinet posts in
exchange for five votes for the government. Another was demanding a smaller
state for its regional constituency. The undecided parties remained
noncommittal.
部分小型、邊緣化的政黨，以及無黨議員仍持續索賄。某個政黨被披露，以
該黨五張選票的支持向政府換取兩席內閣官員。另一政黨則要求縮小該黨選區
範圍。未表態的政黨迄今仍意向未明。
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