Iceland: Bashar Murad calls for the annulation of Söngvakeppnin’s super-final!
The drama surrounding Söngvakeppnin 2024 results continues strong. Following the reveal of Söngvakeppnin 2024 detailed results, Bashar Murad publicly disputes the outcome and calls for the annulation of the super-final.
Regarding the detailed results, he stated via his official X account:
The duel has got to go.
But I must say losing in the duel is very Wild West.
The duel has got to go. pic.twitter.com/R4ryWqUX7W
— Bashar Murad (@Bashar__Murad) March 4, 2024
What happened during Söngvakeppnin 2024?
According to the contest’s rules, the winner of Söngvakeppnin is decided via a super-final among two contestants, who emerge based on the first round’s voting.
Bashar Murad won the first round of voting, with a noticeable margin in comparison with Hera Björk, who placed second. However, the result was reversed on the second round and Hera Björk emerged as the winner, gaining the right to represent Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.
What first ignited the backlash were the allegation surrounding flaws in the voting system, counting votes casted for Bashar Murad to Hera Björk, instead.
Bashar Murad’s team has already disputed the voting process, while RÚV admitted that there were flaws in the implementation of SMS voting during Saturday’s super-final. However and according to RÚV, these flaws were not enough to change the outcome, as Hera Björk dominated the voting of the second round.
Iceland has yet to decide whether it will participate in Malmö. As revealed a couple months ago and due to Israel’s inclusion in Eurovision 2024, RÚV would decide along with Söngvakeppnin’s 2024 winner whether they will participate in Malmö. No such decision has been made-at least public-yet.
In case everything goes as planned, Iceland is allocated to perform at the second half of the first semi-final on May 7. It will be Hera Björk’s second time-as a representative-on the Eurovision stage, having previously represented Iceland in 2010.
Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!
Photo: Martin Meissner
What a bad loser.
When you start with this, you know you can lose.
For me saying “The duel has to go. But losing the duel is very Wild West” does not mean that he calls for annulation of this year´s final. Or did he say something else?