UPDATE 2-Chilean streets bustle as millions turn out for constitutional plebiscite

(Adds comments from voters, government turnout comments)

By Aislinn Laing and Fabian Cambero

SANTIAGO, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Chilean streets filled for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak on Sunday as millions of people turned out to vote on whether to tear up its Pinochet-era constitution in favour of a fresh charter drafted by citizens.

A new constitution was a key demand of fierce anti-government protests which erupted last year over inequality and elitism in one of Latin America's most advanced economies, and have simmered every since.

Voting began at 8 a.m. and by midday there were long queues of people outside polling stations as soldiers controlled entry amid strict sanitary measures.

Expectations for the vote are high. Maria Luz Navarette, 71, a former government worker now struggling to get by on her payout from Chile's criticised privately-run pensions system, travelled by metro to vote in capital Santiago's downtown Central Station.

"I am preparing to go out to celebrate this evening - I think many people will vote in favor of change," she said. "Everything must change. Social security, culture, citizen participation, health ... there is another way of living a more communal life."

Alejandra, 31, a businesswoman working in retail, voted to reject a new charter in Santiago's upmarket neighborhood Vitacura.

She said the social unrest last year and the pandemic had already taken their toll on business. "The truth is that I feel that another blow is going to bury the business," she said

"I want changes but I would like them to be gradual. Chile is a small country, we cannot make such dramatic changes without affecting the economy."

More than 14.8 million people are eligible to vote up and down the long thin country, although COVID sufferers have been told to stay away on threat of arrest.

Chileans can decide whether to approve or reject a new constitution and whether it should be drafted by a specially elected citizens' body or a mix of citizens and lawmakers.

The winning camp needs a simple majority. Opinion polls suggest a new charter will be approved by a significant margin.

Casting his vote early in the morning, Chile's centre-right President Sebastian Pinera appealed for people of all opinions to turn out to vote.

Government spokesman Jaime Bellolio said at midday that polling stations were registering "high levels of interest."

"Progress is looking good," he said. "This is being done around the country calmly and securely according to our democratic traditions."

Chileans must wear masks by law outside of their homes, and voters have been told to bring their own pens. Voting stations have been sprayed with cleaning solutions containing nanocopper particles, an incorporation of the red metal that is Chile's main export and which is said by scientists to be particularly inhospitable to the coronavirus.

The current constitution was drafted by dictator Augusto Pinochet's close adviser Jaime Guzman in 1980, and has only been tweaked by successive governments to reduce military and executive power. (Reporting by Aislinn Laing and Fabian Cambero; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Catherine Evans and Nick Zieminski)