Director General of San Marino RTV expresses dissatisfaction with voting system in Eurovision.
The Director General of the Sammarinese broadcaster Roberto Sergio, has expressed his dissatisfaction at the current voting system in place in Eurovision. Together with the Secretary of Tourism Federico Pedini Amati, they have both discussed televoting and jury voting in Eurovision.
Federico Pedini Amati, Secretary for Tourism, echoes Roberto Sergio’s concerns over televoting and jury voting in Eurovision, and also believes that San Marino is penalised in the contest due to San Marino being a small microstate.
However; despite all these concerns, the Microstate is gearing up to celebrate 15 years of San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest, something that Amati will be present for. On June 15th, The Purple Night – Senhit & Friends, a night show under the stars, will take place in Bruno Reffi Field at 20:30 CET, and will be organised by San Marino RTV.
San Marino joined the Eurovision family in 2008, with band Miodio as their representatives. They finished in 19th place in semi final 1. The Microstate wouldn’t return to Eurovision untill 2011, when Italian singer Senhit had her first of two participations for San Marino. It was another non-qualification for San Marino as they finished in 16th place in semi final 1.
San Marino’s first appearance in a Eurovision final came in 2014, when Valentina Monetta managed to qualify to the final on her third participation with “Maybe”. She finished in 24th place in the final. San Marino has qualified to the final on three further occassions – in 2019 with Serhat, in 2021 with Senhit and Flo Ride and most recently this year with Gabry Ponte.
San Marino has yet to confirm their participation for Eurovision 2026 in Austria.
What are your thoughts on the discourse surrounding the voting system at Eurovision? Do you agree with Federico and think that San Marino is penalised at Eurovision? Let us know what you think on this topic in the comments below!
Photo credit: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU