Voting Irregularities and Political Wrangling: Eurovision 2008

It's anannual celebration of glitz and kitsch. This year's entries in theEurovision Song Contest include a singing puppet named Dustin theTurkey and a band of crooning pirates – though past winners includebona fide stars such as ABBA and Celine Dion.

But the 53-year-old pop contest, hosted this yearby 2007 winner Serbia, is also sometimes a surprising stage for moreserious geopolitical battles. As the top contestants from the 43competing nations gear up for Saturday's final in Belgrade, Westernnations are up in arms about New Europe's tendency to vote forneighbors.

An "iron curtain," complained BBC commentator Terry Wogan to The Telegraph newspaper, "has descended over Eurovision."

Formany fans of Eurovision, the simmering political controversies andnationalistic wrangling that accompany the contest are as much fun towatch as the over-the-top acts themselves. The voting bloc allegationshave also provided excellent fodder for academics, who have devotedsubstantial energy to analyzing Eurovision results and what votingpatterns say about culture, alliances, and the expanding idea ofEurope. Viewers vote by phone or text message, but points are allocatedon a national basis – similar to the US electoral system inpresidential races.

The winner of the Eurovision song contest could be called into question because most countries taking part in tomorrow night's final will allow text voting, despite the BBC banning it due to its unreliability.

The continued use of SMS voting across Europe is bound to raise fears about who wins the contest, which takes place in Serbia tomorrow night.

The BBC banned SMS voting from programmes following the spate of fake TV scandals, saying the technology was not accurate enough to guarantee that all text votes were counted in time.

Sources have confirmed that the BBC has raised the issue with the European Broadcasting Union, the body that runs the song contest.

"Conversations have been happening with the EBU and we have said to people this is our position," a BBC source said.

"We have shared the findings of our review with the EBU, and they have incorporated some of it to inform everyone of what we have found and how they can work more effectively, but ultimately it is up to each country how they want to vote."

The EBU cannot force individual national broadcasters to ban text voting and the majority have said they will continue to do so.

In the UK, viewers will only be allowed to vote by phone.

This year, the Eurovision contest is caught in the middle of a fierce Serbian and European divide over Kosovo's newly declared independence. Serbia's entry evokes a historic battle in Kosovo in 1389.

Come Saturday, Dr. Gatherer and Dr. Spierdijk will be watching not only the acts themselves, but how countries will cast their votes. "A lot of people feel indignant about this, about the gamesmanship in this international contest." says Gatherer. "I think it's hilarious."

The United Kingdom's hope for glory in this year's 53rd annual Eurovision SongContest has been marked by bookies as its worst ever entrant.

The odds for Andy Abraham and his track Even If? 66-1.

Host Sir Terry Wogan recently said the song was "the best UK entry for awhile." But Eurovision has become something of a showcase for bizarreperformances and bad music, the pitfalls of which Abraham will want toavoid.