World of Chig   

16.3.08
Sanna wins! But Charlotte goes to Belgrade


Democracy. It's a fragile thing. In Sweden last night, for the second time in four years, SVT decided to ignore it. They didn't just ignore it, they stomped all over it in silvery high heels and kicked it away. Sanna Nielsen (left, possibly crying) won the public vote, after her faultless rendition of Empty Room, but Charlotte Perrelli will be Sweden's representative again at Eurovision, because the regional juries, made up of a few handfuls of people, gave Charlotte a commanding lead. The jury votes are given equal weight with the televote, so the wishes of the public are ignored again. This is just what happened in 2005, when the public voted for Nanne Gro:nvall, but Martin Stenmarck went to Eurovision, chosen by the juries. It's a really stupid system, made even more galling by the fact that Perrelli's vocals were far from perfect, whereas Nielsen performed a more difficult song quite brilliantly.

This is the second time in three years that Sweden has sent one of its former Eurovision winners back to the contest. Carola won Eurovision in 1991 and went back in 2006. Charlotte (then Nilsson) won in Jerusalem in 1999. At this rate, Herreys will be digging out their golden shoes for a Eurovision trip in 2010.

Oh well, we had a really fun Melodifestivalen party and I won the 'pass the glitterball' prize; a Serbian-English dictionary, which will come in very handy in May!

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