Eurovision to change voting rules amid Israel interference claims
Eurovision makes major changes to voting after controversy
- The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest, announced significant changes to its voting system.
- These revisions aim to strengthen trust, transparency, and audience engagement, following allegations of "interference" by the Israeli government.
- Israel's participation has faced intense scrutiny and calls for exclusion due to its government's actions in the Hamas-Israel conflict.
- New measures for next year's contest include reducing votes per payment method to 10 and reintroducing professional juries to the semi-finals, balancing 50-50 with audience votes.
- The EBU will also implement enhanced safeguards and security systems to prevent suspicious or fraudulent voting activity, with the general assembly set to consider Israel's 2026 participation.