I think...

[HabaHaba]

...the countries that make it into the final should only be allowed to vote. That's only fair because the countries that don't make it into the final will just vote for their neighbours.

 

[Adrian]

I honestly think that the "neighbour voting" is an issue that has been blown out of proportion in all honesty. The only contest that the neighbour voting ran rampant was in 2007 which prompted the EBU to begin to change one aspect of the voting which lasted 1 year then they brought in the split voting which has worked out. Changing the number of countries who vote will anger the countries who got eliminated in the semis which would result in a large number dropping out

 

[Impressive]

This rule would be so absurd. Say I am Bulgarian and Bulgaria didn't qualify. This makes me so sad to can't vote and feels so so so unnecessary. Of course every country has a right to vote to pick winner.

 

[lucian-crusher]

I would be for that but only to make the voting more exciting as the less number of countries vote, the difference betwen first and second place gets smaller, and I really miss a Eurovision like 2003 when you don't know the winner until the last voting country.

But I am not saying let the non-qualifiers out for good. Let them vote as one country. Like this year, the 13 countries that missed the Final should've put their votes together and make a Top 10

The top 10 of the non-qualifiers in 2013 would've looked like this:

12 -
10 -
8 -
7 -
6 -
5 -
4 -
3 -
2 -
1 -

And the Final scoreboard would've looked like thiS:

01. Denmark 203
02. Ukraine 158
03. Azerbaijan 157
04. Norway 134
05. Russia 114
06. Malta 99
07. Netherlands 89
08. Greece 83
09. Belgium 56
10. Romania 55
11. Italy 54
12. Hungary 51
13. Georgia 48
14. Moldova 48
15. Sweden 46
16. Iceland 38
17. Belarus 37
18. Armenia 32
19. United Kingdom 20
20. Lithuania 17
21. Estonia 9
22. Finland 6
23. France 4
24. Ireland 3
25. Germany 3
26. Spain 2

 

[Yamarus]

...the countries that make it into the final should only be allowed to vote. That's only fair because the countries that don't make it into the final will just vote for their neighbours.

And will you be the one compensating the EBU for all the money lost from televotes from those non-qualifying countries?

 

[esc87fan]

So you're saying that the non-qualifiers would practically make up a Rest of Europe vote. Interesting

 

[Adrian]

Having that "Rest of Europe" vote would still be bad, it would definitely decrease the number of votes gathered in each country that did not qualify. Especially in countries like Bulgaria and Montenegro where they never qualify (I choose to ignore the horrendous song that is the 2007 entry) those countries would feel "left out" and eventually leave. Like I said above the voting system currently in place works fine all the winners would have been the same since the introduction the only difference is the rest of the results which is good as it saved Spain last year from a horrible placing by moving them up to 10th (which is still to low) but still I think changing the voting would be disastrous

 

[lucian-crusher]

You maybe right but we really need to do something about the voting. I really miss a heart-atack race betwen two countries where you don't know the winner untyil the very end

 

[Sahistul]

Corect. Where are those 2000'...ESC times?

 

[Terence]

And will you be the one compensating the EBU for all the money lost from televotes from those non-qualifying countries?

And another thing - who will speak for all those countries? Two spokesperson from 2 country announcing 1 point etc.?

 

[esc87fan]

You maybe right but we really need to do something about the voting. I really miss a heart-atack race betwen two countries where you don't know the winner untyil the very end

Like 1979, 1988, 1998 and 2003 - those were some real cliffhangers!

 

[Verjamem]

Yeah, I want it in 2014. No race = no emotions.

 

[lucian-crusher]

And another thing - who will speak for all those countries? Two spokesperson from 2 country announcing 1 point etc.?

We can do it NSC style! Every country has a spokesperson. So, first every spokesperson from each non-qualifying country submits their votes and after they vote, they combine it and show us the Top 10. Then, we normally continue with the votes from the Finalists. So after the non-qualifiers vote, we get:

01. Azerbaijan 89
02. Denmark 88
03. Italy 80
04. Greece 76
05. Russia 76
06. Norway 62
07. Ukraine 60
08. Hungary 36
09. Netherlands 27
10. Moldova 24
11. Sweden 16
12. Belgium 15
13. Germany 15
14. Belarus 11
15. Malta 11
16. France 10
17. Romania 10
18. Estonia 10
19. Armenia 9
20. Iceland 9
21. Finland 7
22. Spain 6
23. United Kingdom 3
24. Georgia 2
25. Ireland 2
26. Lithuania 0

Then it gets tansformed in points from 1 () to 12 (). After that we continue with the finalists.

 

[lucian-crusher]

Like 1979, 1988, 1998 and 2003 - those were some real cliffhangers!

I remember the tight races betwen and in 2001 (liked it), and in 2002 (hated it) and , and in 2003 (liked that). Good old Eurovision times!

 

[Terry]

I honestly think that the "neighbour voting" is an issue that has been blown out of proportion in all honesty. The only contest that the neighbour voting ran rampant was in 2007 which prompted the EBU to begin to change one aspect of the voting which lasted 1 year then they brought in the split voting which has worked out. Changing the number of countries who vote will anger the countries who got eliminated in the semis which would result in a large number dropping out

Serbia still won in 2007 though even with only western country votes. I think you mean 2008 as it was this one what caused the most political debate throughout many countries.

I, personally, think the voting system is fine as it is and all countries should be allowed to vote.