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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.

Iceland: The co-author of “Wild West” demands independent investigation into Söngvakeppnin’s 2024 results!

Söngvakeppnin 2024, the Icelandic national selection for Eurovision 2024, was concluded past Saturday with Hera Björk winning. Hera Björk’s win was against all odds and was not welcomed by many, as everyone expected Bashar Murad to take the trophy.

While, RÚV has announced that it will hold an investigation on Saturday’s voting results and the alleged glitch in the voting platform, the co-creator of the song “Wild West“, Einar Hrafn, which finished second, now demands an independent investigation on this issue.

Einar Hrafn’s demand

Einar Hrafn addressed a letter to RÚV’s general manager Stefán Eiríksson, TV director Skarphéðinn Guðmundsson, and Söngvakeppnin director Rúnar Frey Gíslason.

In the letter, he states that there should never be any doubt about whether the vote was legal and valid. He claims to have received several messages describing the difficulties they encountered while attempting to vote. According to Einar Hrafn, it is absurd for Iceland’s broadcaster, RÚV, to believe that it can conduct an internal investigation on its own. An independent (external) investigation is needed to ensure the trust and reputation of Söngvakeppnin.

Bashar Murad’s team requests two things:
  1. First, an independent investigation will be launched, conducted by independent individuals, to determine whether voting was properly conducted and whether there are any discrepancies between phone and app voting.
  2. They do, however, want telephone voting repeated, free of charge to the public, with only one vote allowed per person.

What is exactly in question?

According to Icelandic viewers, the voting process during the superfinal was problematic. Many Icelanders, in particular, complained on social media that their votes for Bashar Murad were counted for Hera Björk instead, based on the messages they received in response from RÚV.

RÚV responded to the accusations and announced that the matter is under investigation. However, they also stated that the alleged flaw in the voting could not affect the outcome of the evening because the difference between the two candidates was chaotic.

In fact and as mentioned by Söngvakeppnin’s director, Rúnar Freyr Gíslason:

But for the avoidance of doubt, we would like to state that the total number of SMS votes received by these two contestants was not so decisive that it would have influenced the results. In other words, even if all the sms votes that the winning song received would have gone to the song that landed in 2nd place, it would not have changed anything about the final result. Vodafone representatives, who were there throughout the competition and took care of the counting of SMS and call-in votes for RÚV, confirm this.

Einar Hrafn is now waiting to receive an answer from RÚV’s officials.

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!

Source: RÚV

Iceland: Bashar Murad’s video for “Wild West” available now!

Iceland is close to selecting their Eurovision representative for their national final Söngvakeppnin.  As in other national finals, the current political climate has been the elephant in the room.  The public has scrutinized the broadcaster’s stance in the Israel-Palestina conflict.  It is therefore, no surprise that a competitor in particular has caused controversy.  Palestinian singer  Bashar Murad is among the competing acts to represent Iceland.  Bashar had previously collaborated with 2019 representative Hatari who waved a Palestine flag as a protest during the night of the Grand Final.

Bashar’s identity has sparked both support and controversy among fans making him a favorite to represent the country.  Moreover, Iceland has climbed the betting odds based on the significance of this possible selection.

Today, Bashar Murad released the Video Clip for his Söngvakeppnin song, “Wild West” .

Bashar Murad gained recognition in Iceland after collaborating with  Hatari  in 2019, after the end of that year’s contest. However, in an interview with RUV, Bashar Murad denied the accusations that his participation was a political stunt.  Additionally he said that he is not sure whether he will finally participate in Eurovision 2024, if he ends up winning Söngvakeppnin.

The Grand Final of Söngvakeppnin  takes place next SaturdayMarch 2.  Five artists  will perform on the stage to represent Iceland in Malmö !

The running order will be:

  1. VÆB  “Bíómynd
  2. Hera Björk –  “Scared of Heights”
  3. ANITA –  “Downfall
  4. Bashar Murad –  “Wild West
  5. Sigga Ózk  –  “Into The Atmosphere”

The result of the Grand Final, will consists on  two rounds of voting.  Firstly, he Icelandic public and an  international jury will decide the best two acts who will advance to a  second round. After that, the public will vote once again.  However, this time only the televote will decide the winner.  Finally, the vote of the public in the second round will be added to the votes of the first round and will determine the winner of Söngvakeppnin.

Stay tuned at EurovisionFun for more news about Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024!


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