The Director-General of Moldova’s national broadcaster TRM has resigned in the wake of a scandal with the Moldovan jury at this year’s Eurovision. Moldova’s spokesperson has also spoken out, admitting she almost decided to quit regarding the result.
Moldovan jury causes chaos
During the jury vote section of the results, Moldova was revealed to have given Romania’s Alexandra Căpitănescu three points, with their top vote eventually going to Alicja from Poland. The low points being given to Romania sparked a wave of criticism from online users, as well as Moldova’s spokesperson Margarita Druță.
Tempers got so frayed that TRM was forced to release a statement insisting that there had been no interference with the jury’s voting. In the statement, TRM said:
TRM did not in any way influence the jury’s decision, which was made independently. Moreover, TRM tried to ensure that the process would be transparent, by appointing a notary who monitored the voting.
We emphasize that the final result does not in any way represent the institution’s position.
However, tensions continued to boil over and the following Monday (May 18th), TRM’s Director-General Vlad Èšurcanu confirmed he would be resigning from his position due to the fallout from the Moldovan jury results. Speaking at a press conference, Vlad said the jury had failed to consider the historical relations between Moldova and its two neighbours, Romania and Ukraine. He said:
The vote cast is our responsibility and primarily mine as the head of the institution. I avoided giving instructions to the jury, to the jury members, and what happened – an extraordinary, serious thing, from our point of view, was that the jury did not take into account the sensitivities that exist between the Republic of Moldova and our two neighbours.
Our attitude towards Ukraine is not 0 points, and our feeling for Romania can only be one of love.
It should be noted that the public heavily favoured both Romania and Ukraine, with LÉLEKA receiving 10 points, and Alexandra receiving 12 from the Moldovan public.
Moldova’s Eurovision journey
Moldova is relatively new to the Eurovision Song Contest, joining in 2005. Their debut entry, Zdob și Zdub, finished in 6th place, which had remained their highest scoring entry up until 2017. They were dethroned by returners Sunstroke Project and the song ‘Hey Mamma’, which finished in 3rd place. At the close of voting, Moldova received 374 points.
Satoshi would Moldova after it returned to the competition in 2026, with the song “Viva Moldova”. He would qualify for the final in fourth place – receiving 208 points in the first semifinal. In the Grand Final, Moldova would finish in eighth place, earning 226 points, of which 183 would come from the televote, with the remaining 43 points coming from the jury.
What do you make of the drama involving the Moldovan jury? Do you think the backlash to the scandal is justified? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2027!
News Source: TRM / Ziarul da Garda
Photo Credit: Vladimir Turcanu
Michelle 
Silvia Stifini