EBU responds to allegations on voting

eurovision.tv reports:

On behalf of the EBU, Bjørn Erichsen, Director of Eurovision TV, responded to allegations questioning the legitimacy of the voting of this year's Eurovision Song Contest. The voting procedure of the contest has been criticised for neighbour voting and the diasporas voting.


The rules of the Eurovision Song Contest state that all viewers in the 43 participating countries can vote.

Erichsen: "If a viewer likes the song from a neighbouring country, they can vote for it, and if a Polish girl lives in Ireland she can vote for Poland. You cannot vote for your own country, from your own country. But the EBU and its partners do not - and should not have - any possibility of controlling the nationality, identity or preferences of the individual voter. If somebody were to seek to influence the voters to vote for a specific song, they would have to approach the 105 million audience to convince them. Ultimately, they would have to influence the entire potential 640 million audience in the EBU countries, as nobody knows who will switch on their TV that evening."

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Storm in an Eastern Teacup?

from esctoday.com

Despite the outcry against certain voting issues this year, particularly the semifinal result, many countries that initially spoke about withdrawal are now confirming their participation for next year. In the first of our new series of Have your say articles, we're asking if the outcries about the perceived 'Eastern bias' were an over-reaction in the heat of the moment, or fair, justified and expected again next year.

Israel is the latest country to put its Helsinki Blues behind it and look forward to participation at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, Serbia. Denmark is set to announce details of its preselection possibly as soon as next week, putting an end to any doubt that the former twice-winning Scandinavian nation will be competing next year too.

Already we have confirmation from the Netherlands and Malta that they will participate in Serbia and once again attempt to qualify from the ever-growing Eurovision Song Contest semi-final...... read more on esctoday.com

Vote in the Eurovision-Cyprus awards

Eurovision-Cyprus.ueuo.com is asking fans from around the world to vote in their annual Eurovision awards.

There are twelve categories to vote in:
Best Male Singer,
Best Female Singer,
Best Group,
Best Live Act,
Best Promotional Video,
Best Song,
Best Music,
Best Lyrics,
Best Dressed Act,
Best Commentator,
Best Spokesperson,
Best National Final.

Click the link Eurovision Cyprus Awards to cast your vote.


sources:oikotimes.com;eurovision-cyprus.ueuo.com

Only one day to vote - ESC RADIO AWARDS 2007

Click to vote:

http://www.escradio.com/awards2007/vote.asp?QC=1