Kuwaiti Tribe Uses Numbers to Back Blockbuster Winner

When Nasser Al Ajami beat 47 poets from across the Arab world last month to win the Million’s Poet competition in front of 18 million viewers, many didn’t think twice. But in the ensuing weeks, questions as to the propriety of the Kuwaiti’s victory have surfaced. The Million’s Poet competition featured 47 poets from across the Arab world competing by writing and reciting their poems on prime time TV. The show, which had an average viewership of 18 million, featured a voting process in which public votes submitted by SMS accounted for 40 percent of the final tally. When Al Ajami received twice as many SMS votes as Saudi poet Hissa Hilal, the more experienced poet and the favorite of the show’s official judges, he edged his way to victory and won $1.36 million in cash. Now critics say Al Ajami won largely thanks to strength of his tribe. According the paper, wealthy members of the Al Ajami tribe donated million of dollars to fund the voting, with some members voting up to 400 times at the cost of almost $700.
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