Having seen the reaction of some fans to our news article yesterday regarding the changes to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, esctoday.com contacted the European Broadcasting Union to ask some questions about the voting procedure chosen for the competition in Bucharest. Svante Stockselius replied, telling us that it will overcome some technical limitations, improve democracy, allow more votes to be counted and reduce the chances of fraudulent voting.
With voting running throughout the Junior Eurovision Song Contest show. Do you think that this will improve the accuracy of the voting or restrict the so-called diaspora voting in any way, or will it make it easier to see and analyse it?
"The voting window of only ten minutes meant some technical limitations in a lot of countries, meaning that all votes can not be counted for. You can hear a busy tone in your phone or that an SMS will not be counted. A longer voting window will be more democratic, all votes will now probably be counted for. And more votes will be counted for. Nowadays, also people are more interactive, and especially younger audiences. The public is far more impulsive."
Are there any patterns of voting that showed up in Congratulations that you expect to see this time?
"The outcome of this new voting method will of course be analysed in detail after the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. We do not, at this time, expect any certain new patterns in the voting structure".
Do the results from Congratulations suggest that this form of voting might help to end the general likelihood that you have a better chance of winning if you are near the end of the running order?
"Some might say that it is now an advantage to be among the first songs, it could be true but the experience from these countries tells differently. But maybe the importance of the draw will be higher…"
Are there any checks in place to prevent 'online' voting, or potential vote rigging through systems such as SKYPE?
"We have experiences not just from the Congratulations show, but also from the Junior Eurovision Song Contest national selections in Belgium. And from national selections of the Eurovision Song Contest for instance in Sweden We will still have a maximum limit of 20 votes per telephone and our televoting partner Digame will now have even more chance to eliminate all attempts of fraud".
esctoday.com would like to thank Svante Stockselius for responding so swiftly to our questions.
