I'm still not clear on the nature of the scandal - I can see the difference in votes would be controversial, but is there any suggestion of malign influence? For example, any evidence that the jury vote was nobbled by a pro-Russian operation?
Hey Nick, no - nothing like that. I understand the scandal as basically having these elements:
1) Moldova assembled a jury of artists (many were themselves Eurovision hopefuls at some point) and gave them no instructions. Note - this is key, Moldova literally bailed out of Eurovision last year because the jury was seen as incompetent and made poor choices at the national level.
2) The jury voted for their favorite acts. Some of them claim that it was based on the performance the night before the finals which was different. This only underlines the fact that they voted based on their artistic judgement - not national or political concerns.
3) Average Joe (average Ion?) facepalmed when the results were announced. To most people - from the halls of power to the house in the village - it is just polite to give some points (ANY points) to your neighbors. The discrepancy is worse because Romania came in 3rd and both Romania and Ukraine were a) good and b) voted heavily for Moldova.
4) Anger and disbelief turned into national embarrassment as commentators from Romania and Ukraine joined in grumpily. The jury giving 10 points to Israel is what makes this all completely nuts - Israel has politically haunted this whole competition and the jury choice to give them 2nd points proved that they had zero geopolitical considerations when making the rankings.
Madness ensues :)
That's my read on it. Nothing about this is particularly dignified, but I understand it to some extent. I also feel bad for the jury who are getting a lot of hate.
(I'm reminded of when I saw it with my wife in the UK, and, on observing the voting, the commentator observed, jokily, "I've no idea where Moldova is, but I'm guessing it's near Romania and Ukraine!")
Eurovision...
I'm still not clear on the nature of the scandal - I can see the difference in votes would be controversial, but is there any suggestion of malign influence? For example, any evidence that the jury vote was nobbled by a pro-Russian operation?
Hey Nick, no - nothing like that. I understand the scandal as basically having these elements:
1) Moldova assembled a jury of artists (many were themselves Eurovision hopefuls at some point) and gave them no instructions. Note - this is key, Moldova literally bailed out of Eurovision last year because the jury was seen as incompetent and made poor choices at the national level.
2) The jury voted for their favorite acts. Some of them claim that it was based on the performance the night before the finals which was different. This only underlines the fact that they voted based on their artistic judgement - not national or political concerns.
3) Average Joe (average Ion?) facepalmed when the results were announced. To most people - from the halls of power to the house in the village - it is just polite to give some points (ANY points) to your neighbors. The discrepancy is worse because Romania came in 3rd and both Romania and Ukraine were a) good and b) voted heavily for Moldova.
4) Anger and disbelief turned into national embarrassment as commentators from Romania and Ukraine joined in grumpily. The jury giving 10 points to Israel is what makes this all completely nuts - Israel has politically haunted this whole competition and the jury choice to give them 2nd points proved that they had zero geopolitical considerations when making the rankings.
Madness ensues :)
That's my read on it. Nothing about this is particularly dignified, but I understand it to some extent. I also feel bad for the jury who are getting a lot of hate.
Thanks, that helps.
(I'm reminded of when I saw it with my wife in the UK, and, on observing the voting, the commentator observed, jokily, "I've no idea where Moldova is, but I'm guessing it's near Romania and Ukraine!")