Second Runner-Up: Iceland’s Maria Olafs

Be wary of scaremongers, y’all. Yesterday Iceland’s Morgunbladid web site reported that Iceland’s Eurovision 2015 participation was in jeopardy because of an ongoing legal strike. Their reasoning went like this: Notaries from the Reykjavik District Commissioner’s office are among those on strike. They are the body that has traditionally served as the watchdog that verifies the votes of Iceland’s professional jury. Without verified votes, no Eurovision participation.

Other groups got in on the act. According to the Icelandic Association of Academics, “Pro­tracted strike ac­tion could jeop­ar­dise Ice­land’s Eu­ro­vi­sion par­tic­i­pa­tion.” That led a number of fan sites, and even the BBC, to run with headlines suggesting Iceland could be out.

There’s just one catch: There are plenty of other notaries outside of the Reykjavik District Commissioner’s office. Sure, that specific office may have verified votes in the past, but someone else can do it if they’re on strike.

Iceland’s Head of Delegation has now confirmed that, and written off reports of Iceland’s exit as “a storm in a teacup.” Our Icelandic correspondent Kristin was listening to RUV radio last night and the HoD had this to say:

This won’t risk our participation at any point. According to the rules of the EBU, during jury voting, a representative from Price Waterhouse Coopers has to oversee the voting. In Iceland, those people have always been employees of the Reykjavík Sheriffs Department. Should there be a strike, we would get notaries (an accountant and a lawyer) from other sheriffs departments in Iceland. PWC would have to approve of them, which won’t be a problem if they meet the qualifications. So this is merely a storm in a tea cup.

So there you go. We can all get back to singing the praises of Maria Olafs!

Follow all of our Iceland Eurovision news here

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zacabi
zacabi
8 years ago

Still, good news that Iceland are not withdrawing. Hurrah for Iceland!

zacabi
zacabi
8 years ago

In the UK, we have VOLUNTEERS to count and verify the votes in a general election, but the EBU dictates that professional accountants and lawyers are employed to verify Eurovision votes. Hmmm…

Otna
Otna
8 years ago

I’m not really a fan of the song much, but once the first 9 songs of the 2nd Semi are gone, there are very few songs that I like and I only really prefer Switzerland, Slovenia and maybe Poland over Iceland from that bunch, so the second half of the Semi would be a lot less fun without them. That said, sounds like it is indeed a “storm in a teacup” so I’m *relieved*

Nicky1991
Nicky1991
8 years ago

i hope Iceland will pull out of eurovision, it is really a stupid lame song.

Maria is actually male to female transgender, so no way that she is a girl.

Iceland pull out Please

George
8 years ago

A strike in Iceland. Wow. Am I the only one that think, this phrase sounds like a joke???

D
D
8 years ago

Also Mario, her name is María Ólafsdóttir – she is a girl. Only boys have the suffix -sson in Iceland 😉 (unless your name is non-Icelandic).

D
D
8 years ago

Thank you for publishing this Wiwibloggs. It bothered me so much when I saw news outlets making this story spiral out of control with titles like “POSSIBLE ICELANDIC WITHDRAWAL” and “ICELAND WILL LIKELY WITHDRAW FROM EUROVISION 2015”. It really pissed me off, and even if there weren’t any other notaries to oversee the jury voting, couldn’t they just do 100% televoting like Georgia did last year? I completely agree with the HoD, “a storm in a teacup”.

EF0912
EF0912
8 years ago

I was reading the BBC website earlier and was so scared but thank god that they were wrong.

Just Mario..
Just Mario..
8 years ago

But if they do not find possible solution after all i really can not believe that Iceland will gonna might pull out from Vienna’s EuroVision even maybe??! That will be totally shocking scenario 4 all of us.. Now i remembered when that volcano had errupted in Iceland back i 2010 and had affected Europe with the volcanic ashes on the atmosphere.. It was a huge chaos with the plane flights.. Incidents like that are frequent in this country as it is full of active volcanos.. After all the whole country of Iceland was literally created after a massive volcanic explosion… Read more »

Martin Palmer
8 years ago

Or they would have just used the televotes…

Just Mario xoxo ~ My Vision of Gay Love..
Just Mario xoxo ~ My Vision of Gay Love..
8 years ago

Im sure that the Icelanders will find a way to solve this issue & there won’t be any serious problem then till the live shows of May.. 🙂 Maria Olafsson {Olafs..:P } really reminds me of Isla Phisher in one of my favorites movies *Confessions of a Shopacholic*! <3 😀 I'm pretty sure that everyone tells her the same in life! 🙂 She is really beautiful.. <3 🙂 She will not have hard time qualifying to the final i guess.. 🙂 I consider Iceland a hot favorite 4 a great placing/rank in the big final.. Iceland even has chances of… Read more »