The EBU has announced a major shake up in the voting process for Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool next May.
More public power for Eurovision 2023
Ahead of the beginning of the national final circuit, the Contest’s organisers announced a host of changes to the voting process, including a major shake up in who gets to vote.
To begin, juries will not be able to vote in the semi-finals. From 2009 until 2022, juries made up 50% of the vote, to be combined with the public vote to produce the final result. For Eurovision 2023, however, only the public vote will decide which countries will qualify from the semi-finals.
However, juries will not completely disappear from Eurovision 2023. Juries will return to cast their votes in the final, which, when combined with the televote, will decide the winner of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. This is similar to this year’s Contest.
The other major announcement is that viewers in non-participating countries will now be able to take part in the voting process. As well as the traditional televote from participating countries, those looking to vote from across the world can now do so. Voters in non-participating countries will need to produce a credit card to case their votes. Once voting is closed, the online vote will be collated and will be added to the final score. The online vote will equate to the same as one participating country, meaning no song will receive a disproportionate advantage.
Making sure Eurovision goes global
Speaking of the changes, Eurovision’s Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl, said that it was time for a shake up in how the voting works:
‘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.’
Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest
This is not the first time a major change to the Contest has been made in recent years. In 2016, the EBU announced the presentation of the votes would change. Both jury votes and televotes would be awarded separately, doubling the number of points available. This presentation was tweaked again in time for the 2019 Contest.
What do you make of the news about the change in voting for Eurovision 2023? Do you think that the shake-up will affect who wins? Should juries have been taken out of the semi-finals? Will you be voting from abroad? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok as we prepare for Eurovision 2023!
News Source: EBU
Photo Credit: EBU
Tim J
[…] In light of the new voting rules for Eurovision 2023, ERT will follow a similar model; the public vote will count for 50.6% of ERT’s song selection, while the jury vote will count for 49.4%. Zoulas clarified that Greece will not be having a national final, but the public vote will be comprised of the citizen committee. The Iediseis article also recapped the voting changes for its readers; you can read all about them here. […]
[…] The decision of the ultimate winner of the ticket to Liverpool, will be made by a combination of a seven-person committee from ERT, and a seventy-person audience committee. The ERT committee votes will be weighted 49.4%, and the audience committee (chosen to reflect the demographics of the Eurovision audience) will be weighted 50.6%, reflecting the changes made to Eurovision voting this year. […]
[…] a sharp change announced late last year it was revealed that the previous system of voting to select the qualifiers for the […]
[…] a sharp change announced late last year it was revealed that the previous system of voting to select the qualifiers for the […]
[…] of the two semi-finals that took place on Tuesday and Thursday. As a reminder, the Semi-Finals have undergone changes, which meant that the qualifiers were […]