Demands for overhaul of Eurovision voting system amid 'vote-rigging' complaints

Big changes are expected to the voting system next year after a string of complaints to organiser the over potential vote-rigging. It comes after finished in second place having won the public vote by a massive margin.

Several countries have now claimed that the current system, in which individuals can vote up to 20 times from one device, is open to “manipulation” and have demanded an investigation.

RTVE, Spain's public broadcaster, and VRT, the Flemish public broadcasting company, are leading the drive for new rules, backed by Slovenia, Iceland, Portugal, Ireland, the Netherlands and Finland. It comes after Israel and each won their semi-final, which are 100% decided by the public televote, with Israel then finishing second overall.

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contestant Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the 7 October attacks by Hamas, scored a total of 357 points to come runner-up with her song New Day Will Rise.

Belgium was so incensed by the way the votes stacked up, they announced an intention to pull out next year “unless the voting system at the contest changes”.

The nation called for an investigation after Israel received 12 points from the Belgian public despite getting zero from the jury, made up of music industry professionals. It was the same story for Spain and the UK, where the result was met with widespread surprise given the ongoing war in Gaza.

Flemish MP Katia Segers said: “A system in which everyone can cast up to 20 votes is a system that encourages manipulation. Whether this manipulation occurred in our country and all other participating and non-participating countries must be investigated.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for Israel to be excluded from the contest, as has been, saying: “There can be no double standards.”

The EBU’s Martin Green gave assurance that the voting system used was “the most advanced in the ” but added: “We remain in constant contact with all participating broadcasters of the Eurovision Song Contest and take their concerns seriously.”

One UK source said a return to the juries having a 50/50 vote at the semi-final stage, alongside the public, was now a likely outcome, along with a reduction in the number of votes allowed from each device.

“They can’t continue with the fiasco of televoting in its current form,” they said. “The public are voting for political reasons and it makes a mockery of the ESC being a supposed music competition.

“Juries are clearly voting Israel down to try to avoid a politically-motivated win, which undermines the whole contest. It’s a shambles.”

Israel's participation in this year’s Eurovision provoked an angry backlash, coming after weeks of humanitarian aid being denied in Gaza, leading to thousands of Palestinian deaths. Protestors threw paint and tried to storm the stage during Yuval’s performance in Basel, Switzerland.

An open letter denouncing Israel's entry and calling for the country to be banned was signed by 4,000 musicians, artist and music industry professionals from five Nordic countries.

UK fans were dismayed after Remember Monday scored the dreaded ‘nul points’ in the public televote and finished in 19th place. Referring to the UK being one of the “big 5” nations which pay for the competition and in return are guaranteed a place in the final, one said: “It’s time to stop funding this total farce.”

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