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Words in the News
Egypt holds first elections post-Mubarak
28th November 2011
Queues have formed at many polling stations as Egyptians vote in the first elections
since President Hosni Mubarak was deposed in February. Egypt's military government
insisted on holding the elections in spite of objections from protestors in Cairo, where
some demonstrators died in clashes with riot police. BBC's Kevin Connolly reports:
For Egypt's military rulers the decision to press ahead with these elections was a gamble,
taken in the anxious days last week when demonstrators were dying in hails of
buckshot under clouds of tear gas on the streets of Cairo.
The early indications from polling stations in and around the Egyptian capital is that
that gamble has a real chance of paying off. Long, orderly queues began to form two
hours before the official start of voting, an indication of the appetite for democracy
here, pent-up under decades of autocratic government.
At one polling station the queue was more than eight hundred metres long.
The new parliament is likely to have a strong Islamist block led by the Muslim
Brotherhood, Liberal groupings and some reconditioned relics of Hosni Mubarak's old
party.
The system is so complicated and protracted that there'll be no results until March, but
these elections can be seen as a result in themselves, an outcome of the protests that
made the Arab Spring.
Kevin Connolly, BBC News, Cairo
Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2011
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Vocabulary and definitions
a gamble a risky decision taken in the hope of a favourable
outcome
anxious days worried and tense days
in hails of buckshot under heavy gunfire
tear gas gas that irritates the eyes and causes it to produce
tears
polling stations places where people go to vote
paying off bringing about a favourable result
orderly queues lines where people wait their turn patiently and in an
organised manner
the appetite for democracy the wish for democracy
pent-up not expressed
protracted extended
More on this story:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15914277
Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2011/11/111128_witn_egypt_elections.shtml
Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2011
Page 2 of 2
bbclearningenglish.com