Serhat San marino eurovision 2016

They’re the micro state who expressed their displeasure at having to use a faux televote at Eurovision 2016. But now San Marino has announced its plan to give power back to the people, with plans for an online vote in place of a televote

2016 hasn’t been the kindest of years for San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest. Not only did they crash out of the semi-final, San Marino was also denied the use of holograms on stage and they voiced their disapproval on the new voting system.

The problem stems from San Marino being too small to have a valid televote. The country uses Italy’s phone system and the small population of the microstate (31,448) means that they would struggle to reach the minimum voting threshold.

Under the old voting system, San Marino jury’s voting made up the entire San Marino vote. But under the new system — where both the jury vote and televote are counted separately — the EBU uses the average scores of a number of other countries to create a stand-in televote score for San Marino.

Broadcaster SMRTV isn’t happy at this, pointing out that the composite televote means San Marino is only able to determine 58 out of its 116 points.

Broadcaster SMRTV has proposed a new voting system, which they see as a fairer alternative to their vote being made up of votes from other countries.

So how does it work? A small but statistically representative number of San Marino viewers will be selected. They’ll watch the semi-final and grand final, then vote via the web during the same voting window as the rest of Europe. Those votes will then be combined to determine the country’s “televoting” section.

San Marino has taken inspiration from a similar system that has been successfully used for four years in Italy’s Sanremo Music Festival.

SMRTV’s Director General Carlo Romeo had his say on the proposed voting system:

“It is a very balanced solution, which has very little or no downsides. We hope for a positive response from the organisers of the competition. The Republic of San Marino deserves the same rights as other participating countries”.

The proposal has been submitted to the EBU, who will assess it ahead of Eurovision 2017.

What do you think of this idea? Should the EBU accept their proposal? Or should San Marino accept the composite vote?

Read more San Marino Eurovision news here

14 Comments
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Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
7 years ago

@ Robyn Gallagher – a certain country bought thousands of SMS votes, and the juries bribe eachother too (see Albania, Montenegro and San Marino for instance, or more blatantly Romania/Macedonia/Russia back in 2000 through 2003).

Graph
Graph
7 years ago

What San Marino really needs is to let the public vote on what song to send.

Callum
Callum
7 years ago

San Marino acts like its televote could’ve changed everything but I think you’ll find Jamala won by more than 12 points.

Regardless, though, I like this idea. It will at least mean that all 24 points from San Marino will be representative of San Marino.

Ben Rafter
Ben Rafter
7 years ago

Good idea

TJ
TJ
7 years ago

Brilliant idea, I thought about something similar when the just san marinese criticism arose last spring.
Great job San Marino. I hope the EBU will approve this.

Avstryia
Avstryia
7 years ago

Omg, this was totally my idea. Where can I file for Kommission?

bartosz
bartosz
7 years ago

This is definitely not perfect solution however it’s far better than what happened this year. No one knows where did San Marino’s televote come from this year so…

Kris
Kris
7 years ago

What’s the minimum voting threshold?

ESC84
ESC84
7 years ago

Would it be more easy to fake result if it is online(by hacking)?

Azaad
Azaad
7 years ago

seems fair. has a few logistical problems (which could be fine tuned) but a lot fairer than the made up televote.

Make Frans Trend Again (and again)
Make Frans Trend Again (and again)
7 years ago

Hopefully it will not be abused for wrong reasons.

Btw, Zoë has released her Christmas song entitled “La nuit des merveilles”. Wiwibloggs people might be interested to review it.

oooops
oooops
7 years ago

San Marino should select 2 juries. One of music experts and one of randomly selected citizens

MirkoJoshua
MirkoJoshua
7 years ago

This is a very good solution

Paucazorla
Paucazorla
7 years ago

A representative sample is really a far better idea than a made-up vote…