Alicja Szemplińska messed up the history of the Polish Eurovision Song Contest. Everything was different than before, i.e. from the first competition, in which the audience and jury voting statistics were provided separately, and the winner was determined by the sum of these two scores.
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First of all, she received a “12” from jurors from four countries: Austria, Belgium, Moldova and Germany. This has only happened once in history, when Bianka received “12” in 2023. And it was then a vote from the jury of Ukraine, which was then grateful for the war aid from Poland and the good reception of refugees in our country, so not only artistic considerations could have been decisive.
What's more, Alicja Szemplińska received “10s” from jurors from two countries: Lithuania and Greece, and never before since 2016 has any Polish representative received a “10” from the jury. Apart from this “Ukrainian” twelve, the record for Bianca was Krystian Ochman's eights from 2022 from jurors from Great Britain and France.
Passive Polish emigration
The surprise was not only the exceptional favor of the jurors for the Polish song and Alicja Szemplińska, a singer with the voice of Aretha Franklin, but also the passivity of the Polish emigration. The artist received only 17 points for telephone votesmost of them from Germany (4 points). In previous years, “12” calls were normal for the Polish representative.
Michał Szpak in 2016 received two twelves from the audience in Belgium and Austria, Krystian Ochman in 2022 from Great Britain and Ukraine, and Justyna Steczkowska two from Ireland and Iceland. Michał Szpak received eight “10s” from the audience, and Justyna Steczkowska – four. Kasia Moś even received one “10” in 2017 from viewers from Great Britain, and two “10” to Krystian Ochman in 2022 (Ireland and Greece).
This year, our singer was unlucky because both Iceland and Ireland boycotted Eurovision due to the inclusion of Israel, whose treatment of Palestinians resembles scenes from World War II. The Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain also joined the boycott.
Spain and Slovenia maybe less, but In previous years, Iceland and Ireland provided a total of 19.4% to Polish songs. points from audience votes. The lack of text messages from viewers in these countries, and especially from Polish immigrants, who are numerous there, has already reduced the potential points of the talented Pole. Assuming, of course, that they would like the song and its performance.
Because I guess Polish emigrants in Great Britain and Norway did not like it, where there was zero audience support. This hasn't happened since 2016. The minimum from Great Britain was previously eight for Bianca in 2023, and from Norway “3” for Kasia Moś in 2017. And now it's zero.
Let's take a look at how the Eurovision audience voted for Polish songs in 2016-2026. We provide an average per competition because not every competition was attended by representatives of the same set of countries and, consequently, the set of voters was different.
As you can see, there are several countries where among the audience none of our representatives has ever deserved a place in the top ten. These are: Portugal, Serbia and Romania. We received less than 1 point for the competition from Australia, Estonia and Israel.
The positive pole for us is: Ireland, Great Britain (despite zero points for Alicja Szemplińska) and Iceland.
Let's take a closer look at what the jury sees, i.e. how much Polish songs they received on average per competition.
As you can see, the group of countries from which we always receive zero is much larger. This group includes: Sweden, Cyprus, Albania, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Spain, Luxembourg, but also Hungary. On average, less than half a point per competition comes from the jury: Serbia, Armenia, Norway and Romania.
Iron pairs
There are fixed points in Eurovision in the form of sharing votes between two or a group of countries. The “iron pairs” are: Cyprus and Greece, Romania and Moldova, Great Britain and Ireland, mutual voting blocs are also visible between the Scandinavian countries. Someone calculated that Sweden has as much as 20% of its participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. she received votes from her neighbors. Migrations and diasporas in individual countries were also decisive.
Read also: Roxie Węgiel assessed Alicja Szemplińska's show at Eurovision. It indicates one aspect
In the case of Poland, the issue of emigration was active until last year. Votes still remained from Germany, but not from Great Britain and Norway. And the absence of Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands in the audience vote further undermined Alicja Szemplińska's result. Of course, it is best that artistic considerations always decide in this case, but reality does not always match theory, sympathies and animosities also play a role.
Author: Jacek Frączyk, editor of Business Insider Polska
