OGAE Song Contest: UK and Germany withdraw in solidarity with Ukraine!

Two more OGAE members have decided to withdraw from the annual OGAE Song Contest.  The decisions of OGAE UK and OGAE Germany not to participate in the contest held in Australia comes as an act of solidarity with Ukraine.  Just a couple of weeks ago, OGAE Ukraine withdrew from the contest as a protest against the decision to keep OGAE Russia as a contestant.  OGAE Ukraine had asked OGAE International to kick OGAE Russia out of the contest.  The Ukrainian branch accused their Russian counterparts of supporting the ongoing war against Ukraine.

OGAE UK withdrawal

OGAE UK decided to have a voting on whether to remain or leave the OGAE Song Contest following the decision to keep Russia in the contest.

“While many may believe the context of a fan run song contest is a minor event, I reiterate that in this current climate, the politics and actions of one country against another involved in OGAE and Eurovision cannot be ignored or disregarded”. OGAE UK

An internal vote took place on this subject.  According to the results, 72.34% of OGAE UK members decided to leave the OGAE Song Contest.

OGAE Germany withdrawal

In a similar fashion, OGAE Germany voted if they wanted to continue their participation in the current OGAE Song Contest.  OGAE Germany announced in a communication the results of this voting.  In contrast with their British counterparts however, the final results of the German voting were closer.

The majority of the members decided to withdraw with a final result of 56.62% asking to leave against 43.38% who voted to remain.

It is not yet known if other national clubs also voted to leave the contest.  However, according to OGAE Germany “37% of all clubs had voted to comply with OGAE Ukraine’s request outlined above, but OGAE has not made transparent which OGAE International club members voted and how.”

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more updates regarding the OGAE Song Contest!