CNN news 2011-12-01
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re Ms. Gordon`s (ph) 8th grade history class from (Inaudible) Catholic School in Jacksonville, Florida.
GROUP: Welcome to CNN Student News.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take it away, Carl.
CARL AZUZ, HOST, CNN STUDENT NEWS: I most certainly will. Thank you for that iReport introduction. We started in Jacksonville, but during the next 10 minutes, we`re heading to Africa, Afghanistan and South America. This is CNN Student News. Let`s go.
Leading things off with historic elections in Egypt, a country that was ruled by the same person for 30 years. A political revolt forced Hosni Mubarak out of power back in February.
Now the country`s electing a new parliament, a new government that will write a new constitution. As voters cast their ballots across the nation yesterday, one official said, quote, "The elections will not be successful until everyone who has a right to vote participates.
AZUZ (voice-over): The polls are closed now, but Ben Wedeman was there yesterday to capture the mood around this election.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): They lined up early on a bright and crisp Cairo morning, calm, solemn, yet hopeful that Egypt`s first post-Mubarak election marked a historic turning point.
RADWAN SALEM, AERONAUTICAL ENGINEER: I`m 63 years old, and this is my first election.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s your first time?
SALEM: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your first time to vote?
SALEM: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how do you feel?
SALEM: Oh, I feel good. I feel my vote will change Egypt.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): For decades, Egyptian elections were something of a joke, rife with fraud, often violent and always chaotic. Not this time.
WEDEMAN: A year ago when we were covering Egyptian parliamentary elections, we actually had to wait for quite some time to take pictures of anybody casting their ballot. There was that little interest. This time around, it`s the voters who have to wait.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Significantly, it was the army, not the hated police, who oversaw the vote. They were firm, but polite.
In Cairo`s working class Sayyeda Zeinab neighborhood, members of the Muslim Brotherhood`s Freedom and Justice Party helped people confirm they were at the right voting station. They said it was a public service. But their presence underscores their strong organizational abilities, and suggests their months of preparation before the vote may well pay off.
Interior designer Hind Mohamed came out to cast a ballot against them.
HIND MOHAMED, INTERIOR DESIGNER: They`re just slaves (ph). They don`t do what they say they -- they use religion to convince people to vote for them.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): The voting options are mind-boggling. Dozens of new parties have burst onto the political scene. Finally given a say in their destiny, voters seem aware of their hard-won power.
IBRAHIM ABDEL MANSFF: (Speaking foreign language).
WEDEMAN (voice-over): "We`re all faithful to our country. The proof is that we`re all standing in one line, talking politely to one another, because we all agree that this is the best way to deal with our problems."
A truly revolutionary idea now becoming reality one vote at a time -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Cairo.
AZUZ (voice-over): Heading south to another African nation holding elections, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
AZUZ: . some people wanted the elections delayed because of trouble with planning and organizing them. There was also a lot of violence that took place on Election Day, but the polls did open up yesterday and voters had a lot of choices to make, 11 contenders running for president, more than 18,00 0 candidates for 500 seats in parliament.
AZUZ (voice-over): This election is important for a lot of reasons. It`s the second one since the end of a war that left millions of people dead, and the country is still rebuilding. Plus, since Congo was such a big nation, what happens there affects the surrounding countries as well.
AZUZ (voice-over): Afghanistan is getting ready for some transitions. More control of the country is going to be handed over from NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, to Afghan troops. On Sunday, Afghan president Hamid Karzai named the regions that will be part of this transition.
Once it`s finished, about half of the country`s population will be under Afghan control, but there are some concerns about how fast this handover is happening. Some observers are worried the transition will give the Taliban, Afghanistan`s former rulers, a chance to regain ground in Afghanistan.