| Artist: | Ryan Dolan |
| Song title: | Only Love Survives |
| Year: | 2013 |
| Country: | Ireland |
| Place: | 26th |
Our last entry by Ireland that made the list, this one also finished last on the night, which I was very surprised by. This entry gained 5 points overall on the night, 2 from Sweden and Cyprus and 1 from the UK. I have my own theories as to why this was the case, and why a number of other acts that I thought would do very well finished so low. The UK finished in 19th place with 23 points. Allegations of bribery and vote rigging were made in the aftermath of the contest owing to the high rank of one act in particular which I will not name for legal reasons. As for the argument that vote rigging is not possible, that argument is void. The votes cast by each country were equal weighted in 2013 at 50% decided by televote and 50% by jury in each country. It is rather easy to negate the televote as a jury if you are certain of which acts will do well. The unprecedented low score the UK give to Ireland led many people to question what happened.
It is interesting to note here that although not obligated to do so many countries as hosts choose to make the voting results public to offer transparency. While many years this happens, in 2013 the votes cast by the Jury of each country were not declared publicly. As such the actual breakdown of votes was never scrutinised. This is where we enter into the darker waters of the Politics of Eurovision. I've included the actual performance for Ryan's entry I will leave it to you to decide whether you think it deserved to finish last.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments are moderated before they are published. If you want your comment to remain private please state that clearly.