After the EBU’s release of a statement regarding the voting irregularities in Semi-Final 2, San Marino’s broadcaster reacted with a public statement on Twitter. San Marino is among the six countries whose jury is accused of having voted following irregular patterns. The other five are Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Romania and Poland.
SMRTV’s statement – An “authoritarian” EBU ?
The broadcaster published its statement over eight tweets. You can find the feed here. Here is the press statement in full.
– PRESS RELEASE – EBU changes the vote of San Marino which had given 12 points to Italy
As for the EBU press release on the alleged voting irregularities that would have occurred during the Eurovision just ended, San Marino RTV specifies that it has always remained in contact with EBU and considered EBU the only interlocutor until yesterday’s release in the late afternoon. The statement was not shared despite the fact that RTV – and the other 5 countries involved – are active members of the consortium.
It is important to underline this because the way in which EBU has moved in this affair seems in our opinion a bit authoritarian rather than inspired by the associations that instead guide and regulate the relations between EBU members.
We have already pointed out to EBU our disappointment with the way and we are not referring to just the press release that has just come out.
When asked if EBU believed the suspicions of voting irregularities to be 100% founded, the answer was no.
When asked if EBU had noticed that a group of countries in the second semifinal would apparently have exchanged 12, 10, 8, 7 and 6, the answer was no.
When asked why the canceled votes of San Marino and the other 5 suspected countries were all given to Sweden (who were given 72 points) and Australia (60 points for her) the answer was because “they had the best songs. “.
Nothing makes us think our jurors voted for something they didn’t like. Their – and ours – 12 to Italy was replaced by EBU with a 12 to Spain. We asked how this new vote was “calculated” but we have not been given a precise answer.
We know Eurovision and have been collaborating with them for years, we continue to believe in institutions and in the competition and we cheer for the best, even if it doesn’t always have the best song.
SAN MARINO RTV
The original 12 points from the San Marino jury
In its press release, SMRTV reveals which country would have gotten the original 12 points from the San Marinese jury : Italy. While this seems unsurprising for a country landlocked within the Italian peninsula, it would have only been the third year in which San Marino’s jury would give their top points to their only neighbour, after 2011 and 2019.
San Marino is the fifth country revealing their original 12 points. Only Montenegro did not say anything. It may be because their original 12 points did not change with the aggregated results, meaning they would have awarded 12 points to Serbia anyway. For the other countries, the original top points were as follows :
- Azerbaijan – 12 points to Ukraine
- Georgia – 12 points to Ukraine
- Romania – 12 points to Moldova
- San Marino – 12 points to Italy
- Poland – 12 points to Ukraine
Our short analysis
This statement does not use the same tone as the Romanian statement from earlier. San Marino uses strong words, accusing the EBU of apparent authoritarianism. They demand explanations, details about the aggregated results used to replace their jury. But they do not threaten to withdraw from the contest, nor do they seem to consider a court action. The end of the release affirms San Marino’s trust in the Eurovision institutions and belief in the competition.
Despite a different tone, the press release confirms the lack of communication between the EBU and the six countries. This element is also present in statements from the other broadcasters.
Regarding SMRTV’s question on the semi-final rankings, and why Sweden and Australia received the top 2 points from the aggregated rankings, the EBU allegedly replied “Because they had the best songs.” Out of context, this may look like the EBU had arbitrarily decided to give points to who they thought had the best songs. However, it is much more likely that this means Sweden and Australia had the best songs according to the other juries. This is true both in the full jury rankings, and in the countries used to simulate San Marino’s score. These countries are from the allocation pots used to draw the countries in semi-finals. San Marino is in Pot 4. The other two countries in its semi-final from this pot are Malta and Cyprus. Both countries have 12 points to Sweden, and 10 to Australia.
San Marino in Eurovision 2022
San Marino chose the Italian singer Achille Lauro as their representative this year. He won the “Una voce per San Marino” national selection with the song “Stripper”. He failed to reach the final, and would have failed even if the original jury points had been awarded.
During the Grand Final, San Marino was the second country to give their jury points. Unlike Romania, Azerbaijan and Georgia, SMRTV’s spokesperson Labiuse appeared on the show. She announced the 12 points for Spain, the first of eight top scores for Chanel.
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