The FINANCIAL — The recently held Eurovision song contest reminded us of the political merger of Belarus and Georgia’s Presidents against Russia. According to international media Georgia gave the highest points to Belarus, raising questions among the local audience about the involvement of the Government in the voting process.
Out of the 100 individuals interviewed only 10 said that they actually liked Belarus. The majority of those questioned said that Germany’s contestant Lena performed pretty well. More than half of those interviewed said that they liked the Georgian participant very much. The rest declared their favourites Portugal and Russia.
The votes during the contest were counted by Bmobile, mobile service provider which Eurovision chose in Georgia itself. During the history of Eurovision in Georgia the counting of votes has always been performed by this company.
Georgia was represented by Sofia Nizharadze this year bringing total votes of 136 from different countries, securing ninth place among the competition’s participants. The highest scores of 12 points were given to Georgia by Armenia and Lithuania as well as 10 points being given from Russia.
According to Eurovision regulations the song should not exceed 3 minutes; on the stage under the status of participant no more than 6 individuals are allowed. Two semi-final results are defined, 50% by tele-voting and 50% by judge’s appraisal. The judge names their choice during the second dress rehearsal.
In each semi-final 10 participants are picked for the final. The voting starts from the first song and lasts until 15 minutes after the end of the last song.
Moreover, only 20 calls are allowed from each call in Georgia. Messages and phone calls are accepted from all mobile operators as well as home phones.
“In total there were 18,685 phone calls and messages sent from Georgia to different countries,” sad Maia Baratashvili, Head of the International Relations Unit at Georgia’s Public Broadcaster.
Sofia Nizharadze, Georgia’s participant in the competition, with Turkish roots and a career in Russia, did not take part in the national contest like previous participants of Georgia.
“The fact that Sofia has been living for years in Russia and has Turkish genes had no effect on the decision to choose her as candidate. Sofia was chosen by judges’ decision as she had all the necessary aspects needed to participate in such a competition. Moreover, the song was very popular with viewers,” declared Baratashvili.
GPB paid 802,100 EUR to Turkish company Cosmo m.i.c.e., which was responsible for the popularization of Georgia and Sofia on Eurovision. The company itself planned the campaigns and set the budget for different activities.
The winner of Eurovision 2010 held in Oslo was Lena from Germany singing Satellite, awarded in total 246 scores.
