Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Gavin Grey: Europe and UK Correspondent on the first exit polls in Germany's snap election have been released

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Gavin Grey: Europe and UK Correspondent on the first exit polls in Germany's snap election have been released · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So Europe we go and Kevin Gray from the UK, Hello, Gavin,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hi there. So it's a bit of a worry about
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Pope Frank.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very much so. And the latest from the Vatican
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: is that he has asked for Catholics to pray for him.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: He's now known to be suffering from double pneumonia. An
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: update yesterday was deeply worrying, saying that the eighty eight
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: year old's condition had worsened, that it continues to be critical,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: and that both his lungs were infected with this strain
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: virus that he's got. So I'm afraid the situation is very,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: very tense and fraught, as you can imagine, well wishes
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: praying outside the hospital as we speak, dozens of people
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: lighting candles, leaving them at the foot of a nearby
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: statue of the late John Paul the Second. Now the
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: eighty eight year old Pope was admitted to hospital on
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: the fourteenth of February. He'd been experiencing breathing difficulties for
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: several days. He has had problems with lung infections before
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: developing pleurisy. That's that information around the lungs, which is
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: quite painful. It got that as an adult, but also
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: having had a part of one of his lungs removed
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: at the age of twenty one. But yeah, I'm afraid
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: the updates now becoming more and more worrying for everyone,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: and lots of people wishing him well. As I said,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: dozens gathered outside the hospital as.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: We understand that the Venican is going to make a
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: statement on his condition in about one hour's time, so
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: we will bring that to you ran about a quarter
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: to seven this morning. Meanwhile, we've got an election in
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Germany and the question is will Germany kick right?
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's looking like it will. The polls close
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: in just over ten minutes time. We should then get
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: a sort of an initial an initial forecast about what
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: that polling will hold. And actually in the past these
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: exit poles in Germany have been pretty accurate. We do
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: think there's going to be a big swing to the
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: right and far right. Why well, because big topics of
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: the immigration and also the stagnant economy have been major
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: players in this campaign. Now, I'm afraid to say that
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: the Germany has suffered from several terrorist or terrorists related
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: attacks over the last few months, vans being cars being
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: driven into crowds, stabbing incidents, and in the last three
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: or four incidents certainly it has been somebody from either
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Syria or Afghanistan seeking asylum or having been promised he
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: would be deported and then not being deported. So big
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: question marks about the country inviting in over a million
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: people as part of it sort of the helping those
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: in Syria and Afghanistan. And of course the far right
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: has gained support as well from people like Elon Musk
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: and Donald Trump who are being quite proactively supporting them.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: But fifty nine million Germans eligible to vote, and the
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: interesting thing is twenty percent were undecided ahead of the
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: election day. Other parties have said they will never work
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: with the far right. However, if the far right gains
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: a sufficient vote, it's going to be very very difficult
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: for other parties to coalesce in order to get a
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: working majority with a coalition government. So I'm afraid the
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: next few hours are going to be very very interesting.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And the CDU used to be Angela Merkel's party,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: and that's now Frederick k Metz's party. And he's actually
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: got a hardline against migration all of a sudden, which
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: shows that he's also seen with the wind Blows at
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: the Moment. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: listen live to News Talks it Be from five am weekdays,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.