#either way I'll definitely back when the next national final season kicks off!

[eurovision-del]

I’ve had a busy day today but I’ve finally had a chance to look at the full results from the Semi Finals.

Unsurprisingly Ukraine dominated the first semi, much the same way they did in the final! I must say that I feel bad for Croatia coming 11th two years in a row, although this year there was a much bigger gap in terms of points, so it’s not quite as painful. Turns out the general feeling that Switzerland qualified due to the jury was spot on, but Latvia actually got more points from the jury and wouldn’t have qualified with either vote! My guess is that it’s partly due to Norway overshadowing it for televoters who go for the wacky, fun entries, and partly due to the demographic of people who watch and vote in the semis being far wider than the specific type of people who post about it on tumblr. It’ll remain an iconic performance for me, though.

Sweden winning the second semi final also makes total sense, but I am impressed by just how many points they got, nearly 400, plenty more than Ukraine got in the first semi even taking into account the extra country in semi two! It’s not quite a record, Bulgaria qualified with 403 points back in 2017, but it’s close! I was surprised to see Australia qualifying second, and picking up plenty of televotes, considering how few they got in the final – but in the final the songs compete against more songs, the majority of which weren’t in the same semi, so it’s understandable that votes change between semis and finals. I feel a little bad for San Marino scoring so low, but I’d have felt worse if they’d only just missed out on the final, so maybe it’s for the best. I was glad to see that the UK did at least give them some televote points, so I feel I contributed something there. I also feel bad for Georgia coming dead last, though I do understand it. I think the result that bothers me most, however, is that Azerbaijan did so well with the juries that they qualified for the final despite receiving nil points from the televote!

The entire results of the second semi final however are definitely overshadowed by the ‘irregular voting patterns’. It really frustrates me! 6 out of 21 is a decent chunk, nearly a third! I do suspect the aggregate jury votes were part of the reason Sweden got such a high score (all six aggregate scores gave Sweden 12 points), but thankfully since they did very well with the juries in general and tied for first place in the televote with Serbia, I’m sure they’d have topped the semi regardless. I really feel for North Macedonia coming in 11th with this situation, though I hope that since the gap between them and qualification was 20 points that the results would be the same if the vote had happened properly. Since Ukraine won by such a clear margin I’m also sure that these aggregate results didn’t impact the final result, thankfully, and hopefully didn’t have too much effect on the results in general. However, regardless of what effect it may or may not have had, having any issues with voting is awful, and I really hope this is something the EBU can ensure doesn’t happen again. Previously I’ve said I like the 50/50 split system but think that the way the juries work could be improved, and this year I only feel that even more strongly. Honestly, if the entire system needs reworking because of this I will support that.