Following on from the voting irregularities that were found between six countries in semi final 2, Romania has now threatened to withdraw from Eurovision.
After the grand final of Eurovision 2022, the EBU announced that it was investigating voting irregularities that were found in the second semi final between six countries, including Romania. Yesterday, the EBU released an official statement on this, essentially confirming that these six countries had coluded with each other in exchange for jury votes.
Fast forward to today and the Romanian broadcaster are talking about a possible withdrawal of the country from Eurovision over this voting debacle.
TVR have stated on their official website that they disagree with the way in which the EBU have handled this situation, and that they are demanding explanations from the EBU after being accused, along with five other countries, of voting suspiciously with one another during the second semi final.
The Romanian broadcaster, alongside Montenegro too, go on to argue that Australia’s, Belgium’s and Sweden’s juries in semi final 2 all voted for each other, something that the EBU nor it’s official voting partners, have deemed as suspicious or irregular at this time. TVR state that they consider this to be a double standard.
In Semi Final 2, these three countries all awarded their top marks amongst each other, with Australia giving 12 and 10 points to Sweden and Belgium; Belgium giving 10 to Sweden and 8 to Australia whilst Sweden gives 12 to Australia and 8 to Belgium.
As a result of all of the above, the broadcaster is threatening to withdraw from Eurovision, something that President and CEO of TVR, Dan Cristian Turturică, has stated that he would be in full support of should they chose to do so. He has stated that he would also look in to the option of suing the EBU, and claiming damages, over this matter.
What are your thoughts on the voting irregularities found in semi final 2 of Eurovision 2022? Do you think Romania will actually withdraw from Eurovision in the future? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
