smooth one. >> filling in with you here in doha. the taliban has announced the names of those who lead afghanistan's transitional government. the most powerful position given to men who -- no women have yet been named. the taliban fired shots into the air to disperse protesters in kabul. afghan women held banners about alleged meddling by pakistan. they are calling for greater representation in the new government and for their rights to be respected.

mexico's supreme court has decriminalized abortion. it ruled unanimously that penalizing terminations is unconstitutional. reporter: what was decided by the supreme court on tuesday relates specific to one portion, one segment of the criminal code of the mexican state which criminalizes abortion. so the mexican supreme court has ruled that criminalization is unconstitutional. in doing so, it sets a precedent that will lead to the decriminalization of abortion nationwide. anchor: police in brazil have fired tear gas at supporters of president jair bolsonaro, who have attempted to storm the supreme court. the president lashed out at the court while attending a military rally to mark independence day. france's top court of appeal has ruled against one of the

country's largest companies over allegations that it funded isil in syria. the court said that cement maker lafarge could be investigated for alleged complicity in crimes against humanity. the company continued to operate in northern syria in 2012 to 2014. there been protests in el salvador's capital over the government's decision to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. cryptocurrency can now be used along with the u.s. dollar as a form of payment. more than 20 people including children have been killed after a bus plunged off a cliff in bolivia. the driver says the brakes failed. 13 others were injured. more news after today's "inside story," coming up next. ♪

>> moroccans go to the polls again to choose a new parliament and new local councils. it comes more than a decade after the country had its own version of the arab spring, called the february 20 movement. this is "inside story." ♪ anchor: hello and welcome to a special "inside story" from morocco's capital. millions of moroccans will vote in the third elections following

the arab spring more than 10 years ago. since then, the socially conservative party for justice and development has led the government. but that is set to change as the company considered -- the party considered close to the palace could win the largest number of seats. in a moment, our guest, but first, i went out to meet some young moroccans on the campaign trail. it takes commitment and patience to canvass for votes. >> really hard to convince people just to trust us. reporter: he is one of four first-time candidates in morocco's elections. they believe little has changed, a view it seems shared by the people they are trying to persuade to vote. >> they don't believe in elections at all. the same people getting elected, corrupt, the corruption in

saleh. reporter: more than half of people in morocco believe the corruption has gotten worse. critics say it is hard to tackle and there is no accountability at the top. >> we continue to live in an exceptional despotism. we say that it is essential to discuss the budget of the royal palace. we say that the king should not beget the center of political life because those that are should be accountable to the public. reporter: king mohammed vi appoints the government and those who toe the line do not get very far. this person believes many people in morocco have watched closely to what has happened in neighboring countries since the arab spring. >> it is a majority of young voters who will not vote because they are not convinced by the way the game is played. don't forget, if one day we

manage to control the elites, perhaps they will be convinced that we will go back to a much stronger autocracy. reporter: these young politicians think there is appetite for change despite the risks. >> we must have another referendum for a new constitution because if we get a majority in violent -- in parliament, that will apply strong pressure for real constitutional reforms. reporter: the system designed to keep any from getting a majority are unlikely to get very far. let's bring it our guest, professor of statistics in rabat . also joining us, the executive director of the nordic center for conflicts and transformation. finally, from washington

university's college of law. however wins this election or has the largest number of seats in parliament, will it have any real power? >> in the moroccan environment, it is a post-2011 election after adopting the famous 2011 constitution, where we think that there is more power to the executive branch headed by the government. but we are still in the traditional framework where the king asked executive powers, too. so, however wins the coming elections will need a very charismatic, very powerful chief of government, as a leader who will lead the all government and negotiate with the king to gain more powers and what we call the

golden square of power, which is the palace. anchor: our moroccans persuaded that it will be worth voting? >> this is a very important time for morocco. 10 years after the adoption of the constitution that came right after the arab uprisings. what is important also is the context with when this election comes within the trends of democracy. it is a state of democracy that has been released by the international institute for democracy and assistance that actually says that the quality of democracy is decreasing. there is an erosion in political representation worldwide, and the pandemic is limiting freedoms worldwide. we are looking at in morocco is not really the quality of the democratic process, but actually to protect the democratic

institutions that were established in 2011. it has not really led to very much of democratic development in the region. tunisia, for example, we have seen the backslide of democracy in tunisia, right after the suspension by the president. we are looking to limit the threshold of the backsliding, if there is any. that can be done either by having a coalition of governments, and on the other side, having an institution with a counselor institution, which is a royal institution. anchor: suggesting that it's important to protect whatever was won after the february 20 movement. do you think moroccans believe

there will be any change, however they vote for? >> i really don't. i sort of circulate in a mix of different levels of society here in morocco and there are so many people that see there is no change coming whatsoever. after two terms of the p j.d. -- the pjd party, they feel that whoever gets in, it will be more of the same. it is an issue of trust. a huge lack of trust in the government and elections themselves. we see that also went there is corruption, for example, when people are paid for their votes. we see that all over the place, near me. that is a lot of money even though it is 100, 150 durams, is

a lot of money to poor people and that undermines the trust and the democratic process unfortunately. anchor: there is evidence that people are being paid to vote for particular parties. we come to this election with this new law that will allocate votes. votes will be allocated on the number registered to vote rather than those who actually cast a vote. is this another way of trying to hobble the justice and development party? >> i think a strong debate and even contentious debate before the adoption of the new organic law by the new government. unfortunately, it has been adopted and the only party that has refused is the ruling party, the pjd has completely refused changing the laws. what we call the electoral quotient is, in my eyes, a way to limit the potential power of

the pjd. and, taking into consideration the history of elections in rocco, just from 2011, we have witnessed that the pjd got 1.5 million votes, which is their activists. it is a stagnant block of votes. i think, what we call in arabic, the electoral portion, is directly meant to limit the electoral power of the islamists. anchor: is that what the palace and the king's advisors want to do? the interior minister, they want to stop the justice and development party advancing further? >> it is only when the election is over that weekend actually

assess whether the electoral quotient was meant against the pjd or not. we know that the religious discord and politics has diminished its effect in morocco. second, the electoral reform. it contains other things, the nationalists in favor of the regionalists at the parliament. it was actually very low at the parliament. the changes to use the regional or local lists, where women's representation is about 37% to 38%, will be in the benefit of women's participation in the parliament. it will increase the seats for women reserved at the parliament , within the regionalists, from 3-12 as a minimum there are

other things. what we are going to see now is more political participation and seats for women, especially in a parliament where first seats and second seats are mandatory reserved for women. electoral reform is not only concern the electoral quotients. we need to wait and see because on the previous elections, there was a debate. electoral lists, the pjd was against it. the process was democratic. this is politics. elections is a political process, highly political process. it depends on establishing coalitions and negotiating positions. anchor: this religious aspect to political parties and politics in morocco has diminished, as he says. but, why this continual suspicion of the justice and

development party. the king is not a fan. why this lingering suspicion? >> they have been in power for two terms. a lot of people see that nothing has happened, very little has happened. the only thing they have really seen is sort of the constitutional reforms that are in the document. actually implement in those reforms is down to the government. the question is, what is the best party, the best coalition to implement these reforms that are supposed to be implemented? anchor: have they not been implemented because they have not been allowed to be implemented? >> i think that is a little bit beyond my pay grade to suggest it would be because they have not been allowed. i think it is because there is a lack of will to do it. i will harken back to the king's

throne day speech last year. the king was saying we need public servants in morocco who will serve the public. you have people elected who are more interested in getting their money, buying a villa, whatever the end results of the corruption there is is. anchor: have the pjd been stopped from implementing policies? >> one of the issues is that other political parties, actually the evaluation of the term's. it has not been the case. also, but we have seen is how weak all of the political parties, and how this is the king and the royal institution. the third thing is that the political campaign, of course it

was limited by covid-19. we still build a campaign based on promises. the moroccans are really tired of promises. they want to see something concrete. they want to be engaged in correct and realistic debates about the deliberate livery of government. all political parties did not provide something really realistic. what is very important here, what is important, and i think it is again in morocco, a part of a very engaged debate in social media. we have not witnessed something like this in social media. whether it is a good debate of it is a debate. >> i wanted to add, the result perhaps of the parliamentary type shuffles, where the king can sort of shuffle people around, remove them, put someone

else in command all of that, i think it does serve in practical terms to hobble the government to some degree because the king has the ultimate say. anchor: talking about pjd's failure, are they going to be punished at the polls? >> we forgot that also there was the organic threshold, like 3% was eliminated, which meant that any political party in fact can join the game. i have looked at the statistics briefly. only four big political parties could cover morocco 100%. the more we go down the regions and low municipalities, no political party could cover the whole of morocco. here, we see how the minister of the interior proposed laws can diminish demobilization factors

of any political party. the fact that they did the evaluation, presented to the public, it is on facebook and everywhere. but, there was no public debate about evaluating. and we should not forget that during the 2011 government, there was a lot of obstacles put not to pass some laws. we remember the famous story of the telecommunications that the king himself interfered and called for the minister of communication in the palace to tell him, stop, it is not your prerogative. we remember the story with the minister of agriculture where he got millions from the administrative portfolio. the king again defended him. so, i said, any political party in morocco historically cannot

have a big impact, no matter what. no matter what money is there, no matter what political ideology or campaigning to the people, because the palace has played and is playing a big role in taming political parties and controlling the result. we talked about money, vote buying, which is unfortunately everywhere now. i attend an everyday campaign in a small, rural area. it is every day. gerrymandering. the minister of the interior controls elections, the input and output. the charismatic leadership of the king, being an executive monarchy in the new constitution really limits any powerful change or impact. of course, i say they did what they can do.

but, this, the political structure is a problem. anchor: did the pjd do what it could do, could it have done better? >> of course, they could do better. all of that is based on how they negotiate the power within the framework of the kingdom, where the king has also power. the political system in morocco has its own specifics, yes, we have a system based on separation of power with parliament government, and the judiciary. but also, there is a system in which, within the framework of the commander of the faithful, which is working for more than 16 years, and it is based on power with counselors. power in the country has to be negotiated. anchor: elizabeth, there is

owing to be a coalition of some sort after this election. it could be even weaker than previous coalitions. is that how to events morocco's democracy, trying to please everyone at the same time, and the palace? >> unfortunately, the coalitions are trying to have agreements of the on like-minded. when you are trying to come up with some kind of consensus, you will naturally graduate or devolve to the lowest common denominator. coming from a country, the u.s., that has basically ate two-party system, i think the more it is diluted, the less morocco will be able to implement the sort of things that need to actually happen. i would hope also that some of the individual liberties enumerated in the 2011 constitution become a little bit more in the forefront of the people who are actually running.

women's rights, there are still issues with women's rights in the country. many issues. anchor: time is against us but let's quickly talk about how much of a threat the national rally of independents is. the talk is that they may be most of the ones who get most of the seats in parliament. billionaire businessman and agricultural minister, aziz ak hannouch, their leader. could he be as hobbled as the pjd or make a difference? >> is a political party, as old as all parties. we have to remind the spectators about their genetics as a party that came from the palace. and then, they were in the parliament. aziz akhannouch is trying to work on renewing the legitimacy

especially after the arab spring and after the pjd is putting its popular legitimacy on the ground. any political party now has to come from the people and work on the legitimacy. aziz akhannouch has worked since 2009. this arab spring curtailed, pushing the party of modernity into power. now, there is all the lights on aziz akhannouch, they are leading a very professional campaign. of course, they have the money. they are present in social media. there is a report that says they are the ones who are heavily present. but just the last facebook speech of the ex-president and chief of government i think has attacked him directly. so, it means for me that there

is really a political dilemma inside what we call the golden square, whether he would lead the common government or not. anchor: could aziz akhannouch be the leader that could be more capable of standing up to the executive committee palace? >> i think more is the receiver of new policies. that is something really new in morocco, the strength of social movements. we don't have to forget that what social movements is what inhabited the change in constitutional reform in remark -- in morocco. activists changing the politics in the country. the arab uprisings. we've seen this in the u.s., with donald trump, populist in the u.s. have even called for a kind of coup beyond the

democratic system. i think anybody who will be able to attract the social movement, young women and men in morocco, is the one who will have more impact. today, it is the royal institution that is doing that. anchor: do you agree with what he said about that, about social movements? >> i think there have been many social movements and a lot of them have been quelled, especially -- social movements. but, that is where the power is. the power of the people is there. i think what we have seen with one party, they are all over social media, all over youtube, and they are doing a voter

education campaign. they are reaching out specifically to women. women are 42% of the electorate here. that is a huge factor. as a lawyer and somebody who really is committed to democracy and the rule of law, trying to help people understand what it is, i really think we need to have more women, more youth being able to trust the system by seeing some results, by seeing some respect for human rights, freedom of the press, all of these things that are the foundation of a democracy. and yes, this is a constitutional monarchy. but a lot of those powers have been delegated to the government and need to be able to be implemented with people given their rights. the more rights they feel they have, the more economic opportunities they have, the more you will see these social

movements that are disruptive. anchor: unfortunately, time has gotten the better of us but thank you to all of our guests. and, thank you for watching. you can see the program again by visiting our website, aljaze era.com. you can go to our facebook page, facebook.com/aj inside story. you can join the conversation on twitter, @ajinsidestory. the thanks for watching.

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man: i remember years back talking to my dad and saying, "at some point in my career, i'd love to do a deli." and i remember him looking at me in a surprised way like, "really? why? you've spent all this time in fine dining and traveled the world and trained yourself. why the ... do you want to do a deli? [bell dings] i think i was ultimately drawn to the deli because spending so much time in delis as a kid, it was sort of attached to my soul a little bit. it's so part and parcel of my culture and my growing up and the jewish story across america, but my jewish