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BREAKING! Major Voting Rule Changes for Eurovision 2023!

November 22, 2022

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The European Broadcasting Union has announced a massive shake up to the voting arrangements for Eurovision 2023

  • Only viewer votes will decide countries qualifying from Semi-Finals
  • Viewers in non-participating countries will be able to vote online
  • Jury votes will, as before, be combined with viewer votes to decide final result

The countries that qualify from the two Semi-Finals will now be decided solely based on the public vote.  Previously, this had been decided from a combination of a jury and public vote (since 2009).

For the first time ever, an international voting element for non-participating countries will be included as part of the online voting.  The votes from non-participating countries will be added together and converted to points that will have the same weight as one participating country in both of the Semi-Finals and the Grand Final.

Professional juries, made up of those working in the music industry, will continue to contribute to the result of the Grand Final, in the same way that we have seen in recent years.  But juries will have no say in the qualification from semi-finals.

Martin Österdahl, the Eurovision Song Contest’s Executive Supervisor said:

“Throughout its 67-year history the Eurovision Song Contest has constantly evolved to remain relevant and exciting. These changes acknowledge the immense popularity of the show by giving more power to the audience of the world’s largest live music event.


In 2023 only Eurovision Song Contest viewers will decide which countries make it to the Grand Final and, reflecting the global impact of the event, everyone watching the show, wherever they live in the world, can cast their votes for their favourite songs.


By also involving juries of music professionals in deciding the final result, all the songs in the Grand Final can be assessed on the broadest possible criteria. We can also maintain the tradition of travelling around Europe and Australia to collect points and ensure a thrilling voting sequence with the winner only revealed at the very end of the show.”


Audiences in all participating countries will still be able to vote by SMS, phone or via the Eurovision Song Contest app.

Those watching in the rest of the world will be able to vote via a secure online platform using a credit card from their country.

The reason that these changes have been introduced are due to the voting irregularities that were claimed by the EBU during the 2022 Contest.  As a result, a working group of EBU Members was established to look at ways to protect the integrity of the event. Its recommendations were then approved by the Reference Group, the Contest’s governing board and the Executive Board of the EBU.

What do you think of these changes?

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