GENEVA: Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest announced plans to change the voting system of the popular musical extravaganza to ensure fairness, a move that follows allegations of “interference” by Israel’s government.
The European Broadcasting Union, a Geneva-based union of public broadcasters that runs the event, said Friday that the changes were “designed to strengthen trust, transparency and audience engagement.”
Israel has competed in Eurovision for more than 50 years and won four times. But calls for Israel to be kicked out swelled over the conduct of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza.
The allegations of Israeli government interference have added a new twist to the debate.
In September, Dutch public broadcaster AVROTROS — citing human suffering in the Gaza war — said that it could no longer justify Israel’s participation in the contest. Several other countries took a similar stance.
The Dutch broadcaster went on to say there had been “proven interference by the Israeli government during the last edition of the Song Contest, with the event being used as a political instrument.” The statement didn’t elaborate.
That same month, the CEO of Israeli public broadcaster Kan, Golan Yochpaz, said that there was “no reason why we should not continue to be a significant part of this cultural event, which must not become political.”
Kan also said then that it was “convinced” that the EBU “will continue to maintain the apolitical, professional and cultural character of the competition, especially on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Eurovision” next year.
As part of the new Eurovision measures, in next year’s contest — scheduled to take place in May in Vienna — the number of votes per payment method will be reduced by half to 10, the EBU said.
In addition, “professional juries” will return to the semifinals for the first time since 2022 — a move that will give roughly 50-50 percentage weight between audience and jury votes, it said.
Organizers will also enhance safeguards to thwart “suspicious or coordinated voting activity” and strengthen security systems that “monitor, detect and prevent fraudulent patterns,” EBU said.
Contest director Martin Green said that the neutrality and integrity of the competition is of “paramount importance” to the EBU, its members, and audiences, adding that the event “should remain a neutral space and must not be instrumentalized.”
The EBU’s general assembly on Dec. 4-5 is poised to consider whether Israel can participate next year. A vote on that participation will only take place if member broadcasters decide the new steps are “not sufficient,” Green said.