Cheating in Eurovision voting

[Mickey]

More allegations of vote-rigging, this time jury-style. This time it's a broader allegation against multiple countries. Azerbaijan are still involved, of course.

Delegation details blatant backstage vote rigging

 

[Pawhlen]

It will be interesting to see what all from Azerbaijan will blame on this time? Take your time

 

[Matt]

I'm always skeptical when the only thing they have as a reference is an anonymous "source". I'm not claiming there is no truth to any possible rigging but it doesn't really help matters unless you have actual facts.

 

[Leydan]

and it all kicks off again, if this has any real substance to it then it hope something has to be done by the EBU. This is the second accusation to Azerbaijan so something is obviously going on. As for the southern country i'm going to take a guess with Malta which is hardly free of suspicion and the beacon of fair play.

 

[Deleted member 8866]

So this soap opera is still going on? Please inform me, when the season finale is going to be

 

[NeonProject]

So this soap opera is still going on? Please inform me, when the season finale is going to be

Probably never if the EBU have their way. They'd rather sweep it all under the carpet and pretend this isn't going on.Which is what we will see happen throughout the next year. I can see this becoming a huge issue for the 2014 contest and I really feel sorry for Denmark having to host while this is all going on and the EBU will do nothing.

 

[Matt]

and it all kicks off again, if this has any real substance to it then it hope something has to be done by the EBU. This is the second accusation to Azerbaijan so something is obviously going on. As for the southern country i'm going to take a guess with Malta which is hardly free of suspicion and the beacon of fair play.

Considering Malta gave Azerbaijan 12 points in a row....Iguess that wouldn't surprise me.

The thing that pisses me off is the fact that the EBU refuses to reveal full split results. Their reasoning is to protect the smaller countries where they don't have televotes but that really seems to be a cop out.

 

[Matt]

and it all kicks off again, if this has any real substance to it then it hope something has to be done by the EBU. This is the second accusation to Azerbaijan so something is obviously going on. As for the southern country i'm going to take a guess with Malta which is hardly free of suspicion and the beacon of fair play.

Considering Malta gave Azerbaijan 12 points in a row....Iguess that wouldn't surprise me.

The thing that pisses me off is the fact that the EBU refuses to reveal full split results. Their reasoning is to protect the smaller countries where they don't have televotes but that really seems to be a cop out.

I just want more proof with actual substance. The "sources" that that they don't or can't reveal really don't do much. Some people claim that the EBU needs to prove those sources wrong but if an anonymous person claims that I'm a woman doesn't give them the right to see my penis. Unless they have actual evidence the EBU doesn't have to proof anything. The Lithuanian video was a good start so we'll see what will happen to that.

 

[MyHeartIsYours]

Maybe Azerbaijan should be banned from the competition?

 

[anto475]

Maybe Azerbaijan should be banned from the competition?

I'd love to see something like this, or at least some real action being taken against offending countries (being unable to qualify for the final for X amount of years/inability to be awarded 12 points for Z amount of years/etc), but what I got from Sietse Bakker's response to Skanska Dagbladet's article was that he's of a frame of mind that the contest is infallible. Like we all know he's one of us, just a Eurovision fan, that worked hard enough to get working in the EBU for the contest, but I feel that he just thinks the contest can't be wrong, which is really unfortunate as you'd think if any of us were in his position, we'd use it to investigate the rumours that are doing terrible damage to the reputation of the contest, even amongst fans. I know myself that I'm kind of wavering on making a big deal of the live shows. Like there's all the national finals that are mostly fair and they're interesting and all that on a smaller scale, but if the contest is rigged and votes are bought then I feel the contest is just an expensive and televised version of the FSC or the contests Mopje18 and Triakes do on Youtube.

 

[Leydan]

Certainly someone has to be made an example, after all its a song contest and i find it pretty pathetic that they feel the need to cheat in order to do well. It destroys the spirit of the whole contest. The Juries were brought in for a reason and if the power is going to abused then i just don't see the point.

 

[anto475]

Certainly someone has to be made an example, after all its a song contest and i find it pretty pathetic that they feel the need to cheat in order to do well. It destroys the spirit of the whole contest. The Juries were brought in for a reason and if the power is going to abused then i just don't see the point.

I've always been iffy when it comes to the juries because they're so easy to corrupt in comparison to the televote. Like there's 5 per country, so 190 jury members, excluding the members of your own country. If I were looking to throw the contest in favour of my country, I'd much prefer to bribe/blackmail/whatever 190 people than however many hundred million there are in Europe. That's what happened last year with Italy like, because hosting it in 2013 wouldn't have fit in with Monti's austerity, similar as to why they cancelled the Rome 2020 bid, though obviously on a much smaller scale.

 

[escYOUnited]

One of our editors is addressing the big elephant in the room by addressing the cheating accusations and what must be done

Eurovision Cheating Scandal Intensifies: What Must Be Done - escunited.com

 

[wyq614]

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We're holding a little survey about the vote rigging among ourselves in our small Eurovision community. 12 people have voted so far and 4 people believe that Azerbaijan has cheated and 4 don't, another 4 did not vote regarding this issue. While 10 people believe that vote rigging really exists in Eurovision, 2 didn't vote. Our voting is still underway.

I really can't understand why Azerbaijan has to cheat because I think their song and performance are really good enough to keep them qualify for the final and out of the last places to avoid embarrassment. The dictator countries are afraid of "losing face" in front of International community, but I don't think that in the case of Azerbaijan this risk exists...

 

[PeterLPZ]

It´s not the end of the world, if Azerbaijan would fail in the semifinal or would be in the second half in the final. In Germany fans weren´t able to stop crying because of bad results (except for 2010-2012). And my country is still alive. So stop cheating, it´s really ridiculous.

 

[penguinperson]

See this in now in the British Tabloids now
Eurovision Song Contest 'fix' investigation after claims votes were traded for cash - Mirror Online
TV bosses probe claim that Eurovision countries are offering bribes in exchange for votes | Mail Online

It is utterly frustrating as it is beyond obvious that is happening year in year out. Some countries just want to use the thing as propoganda to show how brilliant they are to an external audience.

Then there are those that have always traded points for votes which are just as bad (Malta)and have held a grudge if they don't get points for years. In the 90s with less participants this could have changed winners.

 

[12Points]

Why the heck would some countries cheated at ESC? it's a song contest, it's just for fun and cultural exchange (well probably not anymore ).

I would appreciated a country that placed in the most bottom rank in the semi final without cheats x12s than a country that won with cheating x0s, i know it's a very exciting news when your country won , but if your country won with cheats , what's the use of winning then ?

 

[Matt]

I'm really curious on how this will play out. I have no doubt that the closer we get to the 2014, the more will come out and will be discussed. A simple "Oh we checked everything, there is no cheating" will not suffice this time.

 

[Leydan]

I'm really curious on how this will play out. I have no doubt that the closer we get to the 2014, the more will come out and will be discussed. A simple "Oh we checked everything, there is no cheating" will not suffice this time.

Indeed so, it has certainly caused quite a stir, and unlike other scandals it hasn't faded away. Its a complete utter disgrace, no wonder some countries don't even see the point in trying anymore. However i wont get my hopes up over any real results. IMO this has somewhat darkened Denmarks win and the past wins for a few years. Because if vote fixing can go on there, god knows what is happening else where.

 

[anto475]

Well even Yahoo News has picked up on it. I think 2014 could be one of the most controversial contests since 1971!
(which means Ireland will win again, hooray!)