No sooner has the euphoria of Lena’s triumph in Oslo settled, than the first serious scandal is about to surface regarding the results of this year’s contest.
Serious allegations have just recently been forwarded by Nicolas Pernikoff, head of Entertainment at France Télévisions. In a brief statement to French newspaper Le Point, he demands that the recent reintroduction of national jury voting in addition to the televote be revoked. He cites huge flaws in the voting system, claiming that the popular web forum, Twitter, was used in order to influence how members of the national juries voted. Pernikoff goes on further to claim that mere hours before the grand final, various members of the participating delegations could be observed in hotel corridors, making deals and forming alliances in order to obtain the best possible position on the results table.
So, is this a just a case of sour grapes due to the slightly disappointing French result this year or could there actually be some substance in the claims put forward? This year’s result is one for the best for the French in a long time, so this is hugely unlikely. Similar claims have previously been made in the 90’s regarding the purchase and rigging of votes, but the somewhat jarring difference here is that a person of considerable standing is actually coming forward with this kind of allegation. Pernikoff intends to pursue the matter further by proposing the removal of the juries from the voting process next time the EBU convene to discuss Eurovision matters.
In my view
Whether jury alliances or sites such as Twitter can actually influence the eventual outcome of the winner remains to be seen. Nevertheless, if there is even the slightest hint of truth in these allegations, then it is a sad day indeed for the Eurovision Song Contest. Heavy criticism has been voiced earlier, claiming that the contest is in the process of being ruined by block voting. I for one am afraid that these latest allegations will tarnish and weaken the musical integrity of Europe’s beloved contest.
The opinion expressed in "In my view" are those of the author and are not necessarily the one of EuroVisionary.com.
