i don't think it is fair , student from large country benefit.

I completely agree jj....the judges know more about music and more about the students to judge fairly and also the ppl should have a say. I say 50% judges and 50% ppl is completely fair and the way it should be.

i agree with both of u i mean if u were from khajle u will get more votes or from other rich countries.. teachers or who every judges should have 50% vote

* * * I agree it is not fair. But it is not fair also if all the judges are from the same country . . each arabic country . . should be represented with one judge only. Still won't be completely fair, but more fair than only people's vote!!!

Peace,

i totally agree as well.. it should be 50% 50%.. so people have a say and also judges who would know better about singing talents have a say to help people decide who they wanna see as a star!

I don't think it's fair AT ALL! I mean look at the winners from the past. The only one who was actually talented and who deserved the title was Joseph. He won for being talented, because there's no way a Lebanese would have won just by Lebanon's votes.

Of caurse it is fair.. but i under stand other people when they say it's unfair becaurse some countries are larger than others, but it's the game, and it's the same with superstar..

its unfair cause people at home dont vote for the best voice but only for the good looking ( not all of them ) and thats why i think the judges should chose the winner !
good luck for them all i hope shatha will win her voice is really amazing and also good luck for marwa!

I think the idea of 50% judges 50% audince won't work , still ppl. will say that the judges r not fair and stuff like that , I guess there's no way 2 make it fair
BUT the real talents shows after the academy even if they don't win like ahmed el sherif while others are just going from bad to worse like attya !

"Is choosing the Winner by People's vote fair?"

That's a really good question.

I assume it's Star Academy we are talking about.

I would personally say no because everyone is different, everyone will have a different view of what a Winner is or should be.
For example, one can vote for someone who has talent. The other will vote for somone who has character.
It all depends on what they look for in a person.

But I wouldn't know what way is fair.

100% people's vote is the only way to go.

We are having much problems because we don't have a tradition or culture of voting. A lots of people don't know what they want and even they know they don't know why?!....at least don't know yet.

I think people's vote still and will be the best way to go...I'm sick and tired of these ELITE (teachers, expert, politicians...) who have no relation to average people at all yet still chose for and instead of them.

We will get there. Just hold on for a while...and it's true it's not about who wins it's about who will be around the longest and be loved by most Arabs....Even Egyptians who will vote for Mohammad next Friday but by Saturday they will be supporting Marwa and Shatha...because they also like to hear the best quality voices...after all they know a great voice when they hear one even though some of them don't want to admit it.

VERY IMPORTANT
--------------
do you know that 1 vote from lebanon cost 18 units and the vote took 1minute and 45 seconds to finish the vote where the usual unit for such time is 2 units so u can see how expensive voting from lebanon is.

Absolutely not,
If you are good but from a small country, you won't win... that just isn't fair. If you are not as good as a singer but yet become star, that's not fair. Just like Hisham in Star Academy 2, he was not the best, but yet, he won. Last year, it is true that Joseph is a really good singer, but the only reason why he won is because LBC cheated, and it was posted on Waleg that this happened. At the finals, the teachers should vote for the winner of Star Academy.

I would also like to comment on the voting when the students get to vote. As you can see the students like to say "ra7 3adil il nateegi" (I am going to tie the vote). This should not happen. I think that when the audience vote comes up, the students should go backstage, or to the dressing room (each person in a room), and say who they vote for. They should not be allowed to know who is in the lead with the votes. This way, the voting will be fair, and the students will vote for who they really and actually want. Do you agree?

Thanks and feel free to reply...

Ofcourse it's fair!
The point is not to bring out the best statistically. The point is for the people to chose who they want lol. Sometimes they may actually pick the best too lol. Even though there are issues with country and such this is the only way to go.

Besides judges can be biased too.

PS. Starac is a program for all forms of art and Hisham was a talented actor who is doing a lot of stuff. He is acually more successful then Mohammad Attieh. Stop using Hisham as the only example.....

Sorry for the triple post.

sa, It wouldn't make a difference. Mostly it's just because they don't have an opinion. They will generally vote the same way regardless.
"3adil" is just an excuse.

Besides it's interesting to see who they vote for.

No Yezen,
Hisham is not better than Mohamed Attieh. Mohamed Attieh is actually doing something. What did Hisham do? Now don't get me wrong, I really do like Hisham and I really do think he is entertaining and funny, but do you really think that he was better than Amani?

Also Yezen,
If someone is looking at the screen and looking at the amount of stars each person has and they don't know who to vote for, they will just tie it because it is the easiest...
Right?

Of course you will vote for the person you like more, (this is just an example)... if someone from Saudi Arabia were to be in the final and someone from Lebanon, who do you really think will win? Of course Lebanon likes the Lebanese and Saudi Arabia like the Saudia Arabians... (again this is just an example...)

Starac Maghreb choose to refer to the candidates by the cities they live in instead of the country of origin.

I think it will better instead of referring to a Lebanese and a Saudi as such we refer to them as X from Al Dammam and Y from Saida for example...people will get to know different Arab cities in the same time it will reduce a little bit the effect of patronizing this singing competition....and maybe end up with a better voting attitude that only considers talent and personality.

Most of you may have better ideas...and some just love the way it's now :)

Good luck to all but my vote is only to Fairouz Al Sagheera.

I think that it's not fair.In my opinion,there should be also teachers from other countries (France,Canada,USA...)The teachers' vote should count for 50%(maybe more).

Next year,I hope that they will take the time to pick better students.Sometimes I think "Aren't they ashamed of having students with such LOW quality?"

Arab countries are FULL of GREAT Stars...so maybe they have to start thinking...In the finale this Friday,the order hopefully will be like this:

1-Shaza
2-Marwa
3-Mohammad
4-Carlo

Good Luck to all the students...Specially SHAZA!!!

finally... a topic that i have always wondered why nobody brought up! i believe it is unfair. i mean the larger countries keep their contestant either til the end or close. look at our winners:
starac 1: mohammed attieh ( bad winner, not very good voice, especially in comparison to his opponent bashar)
starac 2: hisham (another bad winer, all he did was make people laugh but had no such singing or star ability)
starac 3: josef attieh ( i thought this winner was actually the only winner so far that actually deserved the title)
so i think that star academy should have judges from diffrerent countries come together and decide... because if they have judges only from one country obviously there will be favoritism.

sa,
Hisham was in 2 Ramadan series', 1 new series on MBC, and he was the star of the first ever Saudi movie. Hisham was also way funnier then Attieh. Hisham even has a nicer voice then Attieh. People hate Hisham because they hate Saudi and khaleejis which is the real unfair thing.
I'm Palestinian and even I like Hisham better.

Mohammad Attieh stole the music from the backstreet boys "the call" for his first videom clip and released a crappy album.... Then did a movie after he lost 50% of his fanbase(which I was one of). Now I don't hear anything about him.

So yeah Hisham is succeeding WAY more then Mohammad Attieh.

And I liked Hisham better then Amani. Obviousley Amani is a better singer but Hisham is hilarious. Besides Amani was mean to Zizi who was actually even better then Amani at singing. Zizi>Amani.

As for votes. Thats true but it will not make a huge difference in who leaves Only at the begining it makes a difference.Besides I like to see who votes for who.

Lastly. Voting is the only way to go. Despite the large/small countries problem some small countries are rich(Kuwait) and some small are poor(Egypt) so they cancell out. As for Lebanon they get the bias from the academy. Maghrebi countries(especially Tunisia) have no room to complain because they have an extremely strong voting strenght. Its not perfect but it's better then judges decideing form us.

Besides Starac is a social program as well as singing. People can vote for whom they want.

"And I liked Hisham better then Amani. Obviousley Amani is a better singer but Hisham is hilarious. Besides Amani was mean to Zizi who was actually even better then Amani at singing. Zizi>Amani."

Yazen I invite you to read what you've wrote 5 times on the row...the only catch is don't laugh and don't feel confused.

As for Tunisian voting strength I don't know where you came up with that since even in the Maghreb both Morocco and Algeria have way stronger voting power.

The only thing that's working for Tunisian candidates is very simple : most of them are very talented (consistently strong presence in all starac seasons)and very likable too so a lot of Arabs vote for them usually if they are not up against their own favorites...that's the real leverage Tunisians have.

And that's why Marwa inchallah will get more votes than Mohammad...even though Mohammad is having the best of all words now competing against 3 candidates taking votes from each other.

Okay, Hisham did do all of that stuff, but, he still shouldn't have deserved to win. I am not against anyone but the only reason why Hisham stayed was because Saudi Arabia is a very big country and they all voted for him. Amani is better than Hisham and you cannot disagree with that.

I agree that the teachers should be from different places. But, hey, what can you do?

I also agree that Joseph was the only person that deserved to win as well. But lol, there was cheating involved.

If the students go backstage and vote, you can still see who they vote for, but they shouldn't be allowed to see how many stars each person has? Do you know what I mean?

Lol, good luck to everyone this Friday... May the best win!

i dont think its fair, cuz ppl r gonna vote if they like the person not cuz he/she deserves or if he/she has a good voice.so ithink tht at the final the judges have to have a say in it...and for one let this time be a gurl to be the star... its not fair for every year to be the guy...thts totally unfair. and cuz the gurls r far much better then the boys...ye3nii i dont und why ammah was voted to stay sorry but tina sawta ahla bel ajnabi and she can work on her arabic.bss ammah sucks doesnt have voice and he so cold and boring..and enshalla ppl wil know whts best ..vote for who deserves ye3nii ya shada ya marwa, cuz both have beautiful voices. w bystahalou..

i dont think its fair, cuz ppl r gonna vote if they like the person not cuz he/she deserves or if he/she has a good voice.so ithink tht at the final the judges have to have a say in it...and for one let this time be a gurl to be the star... its not fair for every year to be the guy...thts totally unfair. and cuz the gurls r far much better then the boys...ye3nii i dont und why ammah was voted to stay sorry but tina sawta ahla bel ajnabi and she can work on her arabic.bss ammah sucks doesnt have voice and he so cold and boring..and enshalla ppl wil know whts best ..vote for who deserves ye3nii ya shada ya marwa, cuz both have beautiful voices. w bystahalou..

I think it is not fair as people from saudi would get large amount of votes , and i think the competition is to determine the real star , not who people woould vote for , and i think they wouldnt change the 100% vote system coz they earn a huge loads of money from tht lol !!

fair? fair ?... i don't think it is fair. i don't think it is fair at all that we see some people come back again and again and again...5 times just because they are from a certian country . the judges and some other music people that are not teachers should have a say in who should be the winner. then from starac 1 ( haven't seen it but i hear the winner sucks.) different person, starac 2 Amani, starac 3 joseph but hanna is good too and starac 4 ... i don't know i have got 3 favourates in the final but i think it would have been shatha.

how about casting really talented people that it will not be a disaster if any of them win??

fair..??? its really unfair ..
i didnt liked mohammed attieh that much ( from starac1) he is only good at acting but thats it ..so i think that the judges should chose the winner !! they are first of all really talented and they know how to handle it ...!
PEACE

btw: the winner is shatha she is really amazing i love her voice im not from irag but from lebanon in case....

I agree with those who said it should be 50% judges votes and 50% audience votes. I think that's a fair way. Because nowadays it's about the country you come from or how cute you are, that's who stays longest or wins, it's not based on talent anymore, because in all seasons of Star Academy and other shows like this the people who didn't deserve to go as far as they went got saved so many times because of what country they were from or how cute they were. I think we should leave that out and base our votes on the most talented and who deserves it the most! That's my opinion.

Actually I forgot Joseph Attieh definetely deserved to win! He's an exception! Excuse the all seasons part, only season 1 and 2 didn't deserve to win but Joseph Attieh deserved to win because he had an amazing voice. He's the only one of the winner who actually sang and succeeded. Hisham is a great guy, he's a funny presenter and I enjoy his shows but Amani or Zizi should have won for that season, they had better voices, Ahmed Hussein was very good, he also had a nice voice! I hope Marwa will win because she has an amazing voice and personality. Marwa is the star! Mohammed Kammah and Carlo are also very good. Personally I don't like Shaza at all, she's extremely rude and bossy, she thinks she knows it all, her voice is good but not as good as Marwa's and if she won would make her make her even more self-centered than she already is so I don't want her to win! This Part 2 of my other comment!

nooooo its not fair at all. lebanon is 3 milion. egypt is 75 million and 5aleej is ... million.nchallah carlo wins , but its impossible. we r 3 million . but still we r the best!!1

i def. think the voting is unfair...i feel that carlo should win because he has an amazing voice and never been nomminee...i dont mind if marwa of ammah win because marwa has an amazing voice and ammah is talented i just do not want shazah to win she is soo stuck up and is soo dirty and i HATE HER plzz people DONT vote for her...i feel that carlo should win also because we all know that lebanon has he BEST singers and most famous ones that is why we KNOW that carlo would do somthing we dont want another Hisham... so people i did my part and voted soo PLZZ dont give up on CARLO VOTE VOTE VOTE.....he just might win like joseph...

It's not fair to depend on votes only since people invariably vote for contestants from their countries regardless of talent. That, of course, will give an unfair advantage to contestants from populous and/or rich countries. I think the best compromise is for the votes to be weighted by the teachers' grades. That means if, for example, contestant A got 1000 votes but an average grade of 5/10 while contestant B got 700 votes but an average grade of 8/10, then contestant B would win (total 5600 VS 5000). It doesn't make it 100% fair and it's still subject to the teachers' bias/whims, but it's better than the current system imo.

Having said that, I'm an Egyptian and I don't think it would be unfair if our votes make Kammah win this season because I totally believe he deserves it! The guy has a very nice voice and is a brilliant musician/music writer to boot, which you can't say about anyone else in the academy. If he doesn't win, then that would only be because the academy wanted to hand pick another winner, regardless of the votes, to fit their own agenda. Like having Shaza win for emotional reasons.

At any rate, whether Kammah wins or not, he is -by far- the star of this year's group and I'm sure he'll have a successful career and a singer/music writer.

i dont agrreeee at all coz masalan ne7na men lebanon eza kenna dod 5aleej aw masr akid mno5sar coz haidolik bled kbire ktir w fiya seken adna 3a shi 5 times 2a2ala shi ba3dena pple never judge 4 the voice but on the shakel and the country a candidate is comin from