Spain and Belgium’s broadcasters accuse song contest of ‘encouraging manipulation’ after Yuval Raphael wins public vote
www.telegraph.co.uk
Eurovision has been accused of allowing vote-rigging that led to Israel unexpectedly coming second in this year’s competition.
The national broadcasters for Spain and Belgium have complained to the competition’s organisers after Israel won the public vote by a large margin.
RTVE, Spain’s public broadcaster, and VRT, the Flemish public broadcasting company, are calling for organisers to investigate the televoting system following a surge in support for Yuval Raphael, Israel’s contestant, who ended up scoring 357 points.
The country finished in second place after Austria’s JJ, who received 436 points for his song Wasted Love.
The entrants receive points from a professional jury from each country, as well as from a public vote. The maximum amount of points from any country’s jury or the public is 12.
Belgium and Spain’s televoters both awarded Israel 12 points, despite the juries giving the country zero points. Viewers at home can vote up to 20 times for a small cost charged to each vote by text or phone call.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the competition, confirmed Spain and Belgium’s broadcasters had been in touch and insisted it took the complaints 'seriously'.
Katia Segers, a Flemish parliamentarian,
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.”
She added: “The VRT must take the lead in requesting this investigation. And in holding the debate on the televoting system within the EBU, and on Israel’s participation.”
Martin Green, the director of Eurovision,
said: “It is important to emphasise that the voting operation for the Eurovision Song Contest is the most advanced in the world and each country’s result is checked and verified by a huge team of people to exclude any suspicious or irregular voting patterns. An independent compliance monitor reviews both jury and public vote data to ensure we have a valid result.”
He added: “We remain in constant contact with all participating broadcasters of the Eurovision Song Contest and take their concerns seriously.”
Pedro Sánchez warns against "double standards" after Russia was banned from the song contest in 2022.
www.bbc.co.uk
The Spanish prime minister has called for Israel to be banned from the Eurovision Song Contest over its military action in Gaza. Pedro Sánchez
noted Russia has been banned from the contest since 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine, and said there should not be 'double standards'.
from Estonia! Apart from the use of Globish.
