Our colleagues in tanzania visiting polling stations. A copy told and zanzibar as well and they say voting in those polling stations are going to is going long small few people are waiting patiently in line but what theyve also noticed is that watertown out seems very low very few people are coming out to vote well close to 70000000. 00 americans have already voted with just under a week to go before the u. S. President ial election the coronavirus pandemic continues to cost a shadow of a campaigning with nearly half a 1000000 new infections in the past week has been a 2nd night of protests in the u. S. City of philadelphia after the Police Killing of a black man officers say 27 year old Walter Wallace ignored orders to drop a knife more than 1000 people have been arrested and dozens of officers injured. German chancellor Angela Merkel is reportedly considering tough new restrictions as corona virus infections hit record highs the latest tally recorded nearly 15000 new cases proposed restrictions in 2 dishwashing bars cafes restaurants and limiting social contact there slated to take effect on nov 4th americas top diplomat has his out of chinas ties with sri lanka in his latest stop on a tour of the region secretary of state mike pompei was oppressing the country to be on guard against what he called predatory lending and investment by china china has accused the u. S. Of bullying smaller nations the indian state of bihar is going to the polls in the countrys 1st election since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic nearly 72000000 people are eligible to vote for local leaders one of the worlds biggest electoral exercises since this pandemic began well those are the headlines and clark will have more news for you here after inside story do stay with us. Changing to laze constitution referendum vote to say yes to scrapping the constitution written during the military dictatorship 40 years ago some politicians will mostly be kept out of the process to write a new on whats prompted this change and what happens now this isnt a story. Welcome to the program. Its been 30 years since chile emerged from a military dictatorship to become a democracy it still governed by a constitution written by general Augusto Pinochet the military dictator who ruled in the 1970 s. And eightys but thats about to change an overwhelming 78 percent voted to have a new constitution written and they rejected a proposal to leave that job to the politicians sundays referendum was the culmination of a year of protests focused on inequality in one of latin americas wealthiest countries well bring in our guests in just a moment but 1st all latin america editor lucien human has more from the capital santiago. A massive celebration to mark the end of the last vestige of chiles former military dictatorship. With one chorus this family in the same part of santiago that became the epicenter of protests for more than a year. Millions of chileans whod been calling for profound social reforms had demanded a new constitution to replace the one written 40 years ago under the military dictatorship the country dressed in his sunday best 90 year old who looked at our school when to vote in his working class neighborhood not even concerns about the coronavirus pandemic could keep him at home. Would. Go to god i never had a historic opportunity like this before and never will again its the 1st time that we get to participate in the creation of a constitution that we can happen in puts in the judicial structure of our country instead of having it imposed i only hope i live to see the new chill a little human. On the other side of town members of the youngest generation of voters or excited about having cast a ballot for the very 1st time this is the 1st incidence in a last saints or election that i have ever been convinced its going to work because. Well this is a very important age for to live up to. When the vote counting began it was clear the chileans by an overwhelming majority had approved the formation of a constituent assembly these delegates will be chosen by popular vote and with gender parity they will ultimately be the ones to draft a new constitution a process that could take 2 years it was never much doubt about which choice chileans would make but now that its official that chileans will be writing a new constitution the big question is will they have the patience to wait for that change that theyve just voted for to take. Opponent says the decision fear it will create false expectations and lead to economic instability which will only fan more social unrest. Im concerned about the way this is being generated we need change but not sort of restlessly calmly. Conservative president s of us who had hoped for a very different outcome conceded defeat in a conciliatory message to the country. Until now the constitution has divided us from today we must all work to give the suit that the new constitution is the great framework of unity stability in future. Its unlikely that this referendum will put social demands for a more inclusive country on hold but at least for now many of those who lost hope of change in the future feel they have achieved an important victory to see in human aljazeera santiago. Lets bring in our guests marta losses a political analyst and she joins us from santiago Eric Farnsworth is a Vice President of the council of the americas and he joins us from washington d. C. Boris vander spec is the editor in chief of the english language news site chalet today and he also joins us from chiles capital welcome all id like to begin with you. Theres been a lot of talk about this being a complete fresh change for chile that this is dismantling the legacy of general Augusto Pinochet but what is the Real Driving Force behind this was that is it the constitution was unfair or did people just want a change. Well i think one must understand what the constitution meant for the century yes the constitution had is. Very high majorities of 4 fifths 5 sevenths tooth. That were necessary to pass an enormous amount of subjects and noles in order to produce change so that we have had for example laws that have taken 3 parliaments 10 years to be passed in parliament. I think this this constitution has slowed the pace of the pace of change that it would have needed in order to become a developed country theres no reason why we are not a developed country with the p. D. P. We have and i think the new constitution needs to install rules that make it possible to produce change as time goes along i mean the american constitution has 25th 25 amendments and this constitution has had 49 changes in the 70 s. And is still not has not been able to. Done away with the enormous majorities that are necessary to change almost everything so i think you know from the political point of view this is the most important change that the constitution has brought about and the reason why changes have not occurred we need to change the Pension System the Health System the Education System and the changes that the needed have not been able to be done because of this. Conditions in the end this constitution let me bring in boris fund a speck had this was very much a change that was driven not just by young people but predominantly by young people coming out on the streets protesting peacefully and sometimes violently as well but the chilean media Sebastian Pinera was hoping for a very different outcome so hes now got to reconcile his wanting his need for things to remain the same with this overwhelming desire for change particular from young people right. There finitely and i think the leadership especially from politicians is going to be important for the next couple of years to come when the constitution is going to be written because what has been shown in this referendum it was out not only before for or against the new constitution also who is going to be the ones to draft this new constitution and chillers shown that its completely not trusting its politicians to draw draft a new constitution. So basically what the air right now is to do is make sure that the whole process of electing new representatives in this assembly will go smoothly but later on i mean already in november a new president ial election will be held so his only 1000 right now is to make sure this process and all the elections to come because the electoral agenda is quite full for the next couple of months it is going well enough that it will march february 2022 he will be replaced by someone else so for now he has this to step back and to make sure everything goes well because of course his his name his reputation is entire political agendas been completely this did not only by the social protests but also by the bend make economic problems between the United States and china for him i think is mandated basically over he doesnt need to step down but he just needs to make sure everything thats to come especially dose elections go well at fans of them going to come to just a moment but lets get back to us and santiago as well there are a lot of people expecting that this is the Silver Bullet that this will change things for the better but its not as simple as that particular when it comes to economic problems in chile unemployment except for those things are structural changes that will take perhaps even a generation. Well yes in fact i think this to maintain just to be done one can be done through the constitution which is that this person of power i mean power needs to be more clear some told not so hierarchical we are a very Traditional Society and we need to modernize. It in the sense of who decides what when and that can be everything in the constitution and the other thing is the taxes we need a very very strong tax reform in order to empower the state so that we can install social guarantees when when transition was done in 1990 people expected 2 things political guarantees freedom of speech basically and you know the right to go about and vote except iraq and social guarantees the cuban transition has been able to stay assure political guarantees but it has not been able to assure social guarantees chileans have a ph d. And people in politics they know this is not going to happen in one day but we need to stop the road we need to start you know untangling the you know the traffic jam in the middle of the tunnel we need to start marching towards the mouth of the tunnel and i think that thats the key to the as social unrest and yesterday on sunday was i think the 1st step and i think the process will be a little bit messy but it will go in the right direction i i have no doubt i doubt this country will go in the right. In the right direction there are tons of we are looking at what might be a messy transition but democracy isnt never very rarely easy and will clean but what does this mean for the region what does this mean is that are we expecting a south American Spring for example. Well iran i think its a really interesting question i mean i think the 1st thing to say as an outsider observing the chill and process is that this really did seem to be a celebration of democracy the vote was handled freely and fairly without violence as had been mentioned almost 80 percent of the people voted in favor of change and clearly this is something that has been a Long Time Coming in the context and so from that perspective very interesting result and something that i think theres a lot to build on you know its very easy though to vote for change the question outcomes and you know your question about democracy being messy is exactly right the question now becomes what kind of change and i think thats the balance that the chilean system is going to have to come through with because there are a lot of competing interests and once you open up that that door to fundamental change possibly then a lot of things begin to be possible but a lot of. Folks begin to resist some of those activities as well so i do think that there needs to be somewhat of a balance but having said that you know chile again from an outsiders perspective has been seen for many years as somewhat of a model for latin america certainly economically certainly in terms of the strength of its democracy Political Parties change. You know leadership all the time freely and fairly and the country has a very Good Relationship with its neighbors for the most part certainly with the United States and with other countries around the world so theres a lot here to be proud of theres a lot to be focused on for the future whether its a model for the west of the region i dont know if it is or not i mean clearly a positive model in the sense that democracy can work democracy isnt all as clean or perfect but it can work and it can solve problems but the chilean models also in some ways a little bit unique from the rest of the region so i think that needs to be taken into account of the. Well lets talk about that uniqueness of the chilean model mata one of the interesting things certainly for me about this referendum is the fact that people voted to get citizens to try and change the constitution rather than leaving it in the hands of politicians which i perhaps shows a lack of trust in the politicians i mean what do you think well if he we started the transition 1990 very high levels 60 percent 70 percent of people trusting Democratic InstitutionsLike Parliament of living not. Just around 1996 this number dropped to 20 and ever since 1906 until today we have had. This trust of about 80 to 8590 percent of the people distrust the Political Parties and products. And i think the distrust comes from this. On and demand social guarantees i mean people were expecting a lot of democracy chileans want democracy there is about 70 percent to support for democracy there is no way somebody can say that the moccasin has been at risk at any point to the protest people want more democracy not less the mocker see and they dont trust politicians to be democratic enough in fact 70 percent of the people say that. These governments these last elements and the last 4 or 5 elements have defended the minorities and not the majority so we need to turn this over and show people that governments govern for the majority and this is what we call that this person of power that the new constitution needs to install for example one very clear example is. Decent trials ation of political decisions that are taken all is on delhi and not in the region so that you have this anything that has to be done in this country you need to come to the president ial palace and talk it over with the with with the main ministers well thats one of the things that needs to be updated you need to be able to lead the regions that are very diverse we have the driest as and the know and the know d us and thats very desolate and on the left and then on the south its a very wet weather so you know you have a different geographies different people different and we have the indians we have them up with chest which have not been allowed to be themselves for 500 years so i need you know this is one of very important part of the recognition of the diversity we have within the country that needs to be. Written in the constitution and it is not she has been a very centralized country and every. Happens within 4 walls and this is what the kicked out is this is the mantle thats been you know thrown away people dont want that anymore people want to dissipate they want it they want direct. Time just want to get America Multum going to bring in eric phones with a eric motus who quite positive out there saying that this is a real change that will eventually represent the whole of chile not just the center of power but when you have citizens are elected to try and change the constitution there will be political influence that is going to have to be managed and weve seen this in other countries what can the International Community do to help chile or is this just simply an internal matter. Well again i think youre exactly right you know it depends now whos at the table to actually draft this constitution and to see what they what the delegates come up with thats a process that will begin sometime later next year what can the International Community do not much to be honest nor should we this is a chill land issue for chalange citizens a strong democracy strong sovereign nation certainly from the u. S. Perspective to the extent we can be supportive of the democratic process i think thats appropriate i do think there is also a role for the International Community to. Have a sensitivity to the moment of change in chile but also of the economic model that chile has had which has proven to be a success and has proven to be supported by particularly north american but also other investors and folks who are working to help the economy in the Business Community within santiago in chile as well and so the point that im making is that i do think there has to be a balance like in any country there are going to be competing interests and how those interests are raid against each other is a matter for the chilean people but one of the outcome is determined then the International Community will take a look particularly from the economic side and so well this is something that either we want to move forward with or perhaps change some of the views so that so thats an issue i think for the chalange people from both boris fun to spec we in a moment in chile where its a celebratory atmosphere people hopeful for the future but as we know that doesnt last that long particularly if change doesnt come concrete changes and seem to be coming so while its a given that you speak to a lot of people you speak to a lot of people in the Journalistic Community is that a chance that maybe missed it because simply it might just take too long. Well i think theres nothing to be missed him because of course this is the 1st step in the whole process of writing these new constitution and what i think is very important is to menaces expectations because what you do see when you talk to people on the streets during the protests during a celebration sense and they. Said there is a sensation that a new constitution really might change the lives of a lot of people who have not seen the profits of all this Economic Growth in the last couple of years in chile and i think its very important to manage those expectations because show that with protests they can they can change a country with mobilizations with manifestations. And i think its very important that they know what they can expect the next couple of years that the people involved in writing the constitution will do so nick certain transparent process and also something to that was to be seen in the 1st months of the protests last year were d really small gatherings of citizens coming together in parks and plazas in cafes and just talk together ok how are we going to change the country there was a huge participation of citizens and their moment and what i think is very important to make those people who made sure that she can write a new constitution right now get included as well in drafting a new constitution of course not by writing it directly but that true some form there will be an input of all citizens to make sure that because orissa forest what youre talking about forest on this what were talking about is almost a decade long process this isnt going to happen immediately how smart of this question earlier this isnt a Silver Bullet thats going to change peoples lives straight away isnt that going to be a problem. Well this is exactly what i mentioned with that process of writing the constitution should be very transparent that expectations should be managed by both politicians and by those writing the constitution and also by getting people normal people again not those we see in a television involved in writing the constitution other directly but at least get them a platform where they can transmit their ideas where they can tell what they think should be included because otherwise we might see it in 2 years or entry as people go back to the streets because they still havent seen any change yet of course its a process that takes a very long time i mean these people who are going to write the constitution have possibly very little experience writing a new constitution that have to do so in one year one and a half years so to make sure that process and a change to that comes after goes well and it people see some of it i think its very important to keep including all the citizens that voted no not a lot you mentioned earlier its a great phrase that people have a ph d. In politics and they understand the process and they understand they might take a little while but how much good will is that you know if this does take 567 maybe a decade i mean that goodwill is going to run out slowly yes that you know if you look at the process for example in brazil when president lula took office a fast time and he installed this no Hunger Program i hate to show the whole country that this was happening it just happened in a very particular place to a very particular group of people and that was enough. To show that there was food to the will to get out of there i think you know. As i said you know t. Has a ph d. In politics and people will understand and they will be able to see transparently whether this is going to happen or not we need to be able to show there is a political will to do things differently in favor of the good the common good and not in favor of political or but equally our interest i think is the entrepreneur sorry not sorry are running out of time and i do want to just quickly come back to eric phones with now youve heard from 2 people that eric and santiago who would involved in the constitutional change and in the protests and in everything almost do you still think that this is a an internal chilean matter or do you think chile could do with some help. Well i mean to the extent that the folks who are actually writing the constitution are looking for models or ideas certainly theres a lot out there the history and tradition of democracy is rich with positive examples. And examples frankly to be avoided as well so that i think they can be drawn from history certainly but one has to be careful look particularly from a washington perspective from a United States perspective. This has to be a chilean process to the extent the chilean people seek assistance in some manner i think that folks can be open to that but you know iran you asked earlier a really important question i think about you know could this be a model for the rest of the region and in some ways as i mentioned chile is unique but inside in another way i think its a very important attentional model weve seen changes come to other countries in latin america violently or suddenly or anticonstitutional way or in a manner that disrupts democracy clearly if the chilean people can pull this off in a way that updates the constitution does so according to a democratic process freely and transparently and comes out on the other side satisfied perhaps not completely but satisfying most interest in the country that will be a tremendously sassed and avalanche work out there ocracy from generation to generation phones or thank you very much the most id like to thank boris funder spec and guess for joining us thank you to thwarting you can see the program again any time by visiting a website how does their adult comb until further discussion because well facebook pays us facebook dot com forward slash a. 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But on the clock and all the top stories here on aljazeera and voting is underway in turns in is general election in the poll maad by violence and allegations of foul play president john mica food he is seeking a 2nd 5 year term his government has been accused of suppressing his critics as well as the opposition Catherine Sawyer has been monitoring the elections from the kenyan capital of nairobi. Ive been speaking to our colleagues in tanzania been visiting polling stations in Dar Es Salaam dodo mother copy told and zanzibar as well and they say voting in those polling stations and going to is going on small 3 people oh wait