In these recent years, television viewers across Europe could check that the Eastern European countries usually vote for their neighbours as a so-called phenomenon of neighbourly voting. But, do only the Eastern countries vote for the Eastern countries? Definitely not. The televote system now into force allows immigrants living in one country to vote for their motherlands. This is the diaspora voting, first raised and given the name by esctoday.com last year. Whereas we believe that the majority of people vote for the song, it seems that the percentage of immigrant population closely correlates with the number of points awarded by each country.
The Spanish website eurosongcontest.net is preparing a comprehensive analysis of the results from the last Eurovision Song Contest, held in Helsinki on May 10th and 12th. The main work tool is the census of every country, where everyone can check out the important ethnic and national minorities living in other countries.
Spain
The main flow of European immigrants coming to Spain has its source in Romania. More than 400,000 Romanians are currently living in Spain, and in the Eurovision Final the Spanish 12 points were cast to Romania. Something similar happens to Bulgaria: they are the second largest immigrants' community in the Iberian country, so it is not strange that Spain gave 10 points to Bulgaria. Ukrainians (7 points) and Armenians (8 points) are also numerous in Spain.
Austria
Former Yugoslavs are the main national minority in Austria, according to the latest Austrian censusanalysis. So, Serbia got 12 points, Bosnia received 8 and FYR Macedonia, 1. A large Turkish population is resident in Austria too, and Turkey was awarded 10 points from Austria.
Belarus
Half a million Poles are living in this former Soviet republic, but Belarus is not a country with a remarkable flow of foreign people. Poland received 5 points from Belarus in the semifinal.
Belgium
Twelve points to Turkey from Belgium. The Turks are the main minority living in Belgium, followed by Former Yugoslavs (Serbia, 7 points). There are two striking facts concerning the Belgian vote as well: Armenian and Greek communities are not very large (1% – 2%), but these countries got 10 and 8 points respectively. So it seems that both national minorities were really aware of voting for their representatives.
Denmark
In the case of Denmark, both neighbourly and diaspora voting seem to get together. Scandinavians, Turks, Germans and Balkan people share this country, so the voting result is according to this diversity: Sweden, 12 points; Turkey, 10 points; Bosnia & Herzegovina, 7 points; Serbia, 6 points; Germany, 5 points and Finland, 4 points.
Estonia
As a former Soviet republic, Estonia still houses important minorites from other countries that were part of the USSR before 1991. So it seems to be reasonable that the Estonian 12 points were cast to Russia, 8 to Ukraine, 7 to Belarus and 5 to Georgia.
Finland
Russia, the Eastern neighbour of Finland, received 3 points from the host country of the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. Serbia awarded the 12 from Finland (1.5% of the population is made up of immigrants from Former Yugoslavians living there) and Sweden 8 (neighbourly/diaspora).
France
280,000 Turks living in France surely collaborated to give Turkey the maximum votes. Other important minorities in France are the Serbs (8 points), the Romanians (7 points), the Spaniards (6 points) and the Bosnians (1 point). It is strange that Germany received null points from France – there are 120,000 Germans living there. The largest minority in France is that of Portugal, with 880,000 of the population hailing from mainland Europe's Western outpost. Not surprisingly, France awarded Portugal 10 points in the semi final.
Germany
It is already a tradition. Turkey, 12 points! Almost 2 million Turks living in Germany work every year to bring their natal country the maximum vote. Italians are the second largest minority in Germany but of course Italy do not participate. If they did, who would bet against Italy receiving 10 points from Germany. In their absense, the next two largest minorities areGreeks and Serbs supported their countries, awarding them with 10 and 8 points respectively.
For more information on this survey and analysis, click here.
