World Tour: Chile rejects conservatives changes to its constitution

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Nigeria, Onize Ohikere

AUDIO: [Cheering crowds]

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: DRC vote — We start today in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where voters are heading to the polls today after weeks of campaigns.

Incumbent President Félix Tshisekedi is running for reelection. He has centered his campaign around the M23 rebel group, which has displaced thousands of people in eastern Congo as the group continues with an offensive. Other rebel groups also plague the region.

TSHISEKEDI: [Speaking French]

Tshisekedi tells voters here that he needs their support to continue to fight for the country’s liberation.

The ongoing unrest will likely keep some Congolese from voting.

OFFICIAL: [Speaking French]

This electoral commission official says they won’t open polling stations in the town of Masisi, since only about one percent of expected voters registered.

Other presidential candidates include Nobel-winning Dr. Denis Mukwege, opposition candidate Martin Fayulu, and businessman Moïse Katumbi.

The electoral commission is expected to release provisional results by December 31.

AUDIO: [Waiting crowds]

Australia flooding — In Australia, heavy downpours have brought flooding and triggered emergency evacuations in the northeast.

Authorities rescued more than 300 people overnight on Sunday. In the tourist hub of Cairns, floodwaters completely covered major highways. The city closed its airport on Monday. Railway services were also suspended.

Local officials in the rural town of Ingham said residents spotted crocodiles in the floodwaters.

Steve Zsombok is deputy commissioner of the Queensland Ambulance Service.

ZSOMBOK: We've seen people on roofs isolated, we've seen people actually waiting to be rescued, some of those have been removed, and we still currently have people out in the community who are waiting to be evacuated from some of those locations.

Tropical Cyclone Jasper made landfall in northern Australia last week. Strong winds caused only minor damage, but heavy rain has continued to drench the region.

AUDIO: [Cheering]

Chile reform vote — Cheering voters in Chile have welcomed the outcome of a Sunday vote on whether to change the country’s dictatorship-era constitution.

More than 55 percent of Chileans voted against the proposed conservative constitution. It included changes like reducing state intervention and deepening free-market principles.

Last year, a majority of voters also rejected a different proposal from left-leaning lawmakers. Proposed changes sought to add environmental protections and the right to elective abortion into the constitution.

Chile began the constitutional reform process in 2019 after mass protests against social inequality.

FONT: [Speaking Spanish]

Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font says here that the country will continue with its 1980 constitution.

AUDIO: [Choir singing]

Lebanon celebration — We close today with Christmas celebrations in Lebanon.

Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group has increasingly exchanged fire with Israeli troops along the southern border since the Israel-Hamas conflict began in October.

Lebanon is also still in the midst of a record four-year financial crisis with banks essentially shutting customers out of their accounts.

Yet Christmas decorations and costume-wearing singers have brought a festive mood to parts of the country.

WOMAN: [Speaking Arabic]

This Beirut resident says the Lebanese people don’t break and will hold onto their festivals as a source of hope.

That’s it for today’s WORLD Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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