Actually, I was rooting for Konata (Lucky Star), Tsukasa (Lucky Star), Nanoha (StrikerS) and Louise (Zero no Tsukaima) in the final 8. It seems like Higurashi was much more popular than what I anticipated, not only in Japan.
It was quite amazing that foreign votes turned it around in the finals. It got some Japs pretty pissed wich made the whole thing worth it, even though I would have prefered Nagi.