There are news for the next edition of Eurovision. The organization of the festival has announced important changes that affect its voting system, giving more weight to viewers and allowing them to vote from any country.
changes are coming
The EBU (European Broadcasting Union) has announced historic changes for Eurovision 2023. The international contest will modify the way voting works, giving the audience more decision-making power.
Thus, said changes consist in that they will be solely and exclusively the votes of the audience decide the countries that qualify for the semifinalsthe votes of the professional jury will be combined with those of the audience to decide the final result and viewers from non-participating countries will also be able to vote online.
According to Martin Österdahl, festival supervisor, this is a logical step given the increasing popularity of the event, which has evolved throughout its 67-year history. With this modification, the jury will only be relevant in the final and it will be the public who decides in the previous phases (which reminds us of the controversy that took place last year at the ‘Benidorm Fest’).
Refering to extension of the vote to non-participating countries, they will be able to do so through a secure online platform that will allow them to cast their vote both during the final gala and in the semifinals. The rest of the voters will continue to have the option to do so via SMS, telephone and the contest app.
Eurovision will celebrate its main gala on May 13, 2023 and will decide part of its participants in the semifinals on May 9 and 11. Before that, we will have the ‘Benidorm Fest’ galas to decide our candidate on February 4 and the Junior Eurovision gala on December 11, 2022.