Belgium broadcaster VRT reports that 6 juries were removed from voting in Eurovision 2022 that ”had agreed to vote for each other”.
They claim from a ”very close” source that 6 juries were replaced by the recalculated result that seems agreed to each other points.
Those 6 countries were Azerbaijan,Georgia,Montenegro,Poland,Romania, and San Marino.
During press release from EBU stating:
”In the analysis of jury voting by the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) pan-European voting partner after the Second Dress Rehearsal of the Second Semi-Final of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, certain irregular voting patterns were identified in the results of six countries.
In order to comply with the Contest’s Voting Instructions, the EBU worked with its voting partner to calculate a substitute aggregated result for each country concerned for both the Second-Semi Final and the Grand Final (calculated based on the results of other countries with similar voting records).”
As expected Azerbaijan, Montenrgro, Romania, and Georgia are requesting the explanations from the EBU.
Romanian broadcaster also released a statement to ”Digi 24” expressing their surprise at the removal of the Romanian jury from the competition.
TVR reveals that the Romanian jury had awarded 12 points to Moldova, not Ukraine.
TVR states to Digi 24:
“Romanian Television has fully assumed its commitment to participate in Eurovision 2022, paying the participation fee and preparing, together with the WRS team, a project that has enjoyed the appreciation of the public.
However, we were surprised to find that the result of the Romanian jury’s vote was not taken into account in the calculation of the final ranking, the organizers assigning another set of scores to the competitors in the final, on behalf of the jury of our country. We specify that the Romanian jury decided to give maximum score to the representatives of Moldova.
In a message sent to the representatives of the participating countries, on Saturday night, just during the announcement of the results of the vote of the national juries for the ESC final (around 01.00), EBU stated that: European Broadcasting Union (EBU) After the second rehearsal of the second semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2022, certain irregular (“irregular”) voting patterns were identified in the results of six countries. In order to comply with the Contest Voting Instructions, the EBU worked with its voting partner to calculate a substitute aggregate result for each country in question, both for the second semi-final and for the grand final (calculated on the basis of the results of other countries voting similar) ”.
In the message, Romania was not explicitly nominated on the list of the six countries, nor did it receive, at the end of the second semifinal, the one specifying the identification of “irregular voting patterns”, an official communication regarding a suspicion. of the organizers regarding the jury vote in Romania.
The person in charge of TVR to manage the communication with EBU for the national jury vote noticed the discrepancy between the scores sent the day before, after the show for the jury, and the notes that EBU, during the event, announced that it will introduce in the ranking. being from the national jury.
At the same time, the presenter Eda Marcus was not allowed to enter the official broadcast to communicate the results, as TVR had previously agreed with the organizers, according to the procedures. Moreover, during Saturday, the person in charge of voting from TVR participated in two teleconferences with the organizers for establishing the rules of presentation / positioning / reading of Ede Marcus. He also participated in the rehearsal for the transmission of the jury’s result, without receiving any communication regarding any suspicions or the organizer’s intention to make changes to the Romanian jurors’ vote.
We emphasize that the national jury watched the show after which it voted in the presence of a notary and complied with the rules imposed by the organizer. We reiterate that neither the jurors nor the TVR representatives were notified, after the second semifinal, of the existence of any suspicions about Romania’s vote.
Therefore, the rules were changed during the game, without the participants being notified in advance, as they found out during the broadcast that some votes of the national juries were changed by the organizer.
In this extraordinary context, which surprised us unpleasantly, TVR asked the ESC organizers to provide us, officially, the concrete reasons why they replaced the jury score in Romania with a “substitute” calculated in a non-transparent way. Depending on the answer that will be sent to us, TVR reserves the right to take measures to correct the situation created.”
They also release their full list breakdown of votes of the nation jury in the Grand Final and are:
- Moldova – 12 points
- Greece – 10 points
- Poland – 8 points
- Netherlands – 7 points
- Azerbaijan – 6 points
- Australia – 5 points
- Italy – 4 points
- Spain – 3 points
- Finland – 2 points
- Lithuania – 1 points
The public broadcaster of Montenegro, RTCG also requested an explanation from EBU why one of their jury votes was removed from the contest. The RTCG states that their jury vote was carried out normally and was
”duly certified by the EBU and they see no reason to suspect any form of irregularity”.
Azerbaijan broadcaster İctimai Television has revealed that the jury had awarded 12 points to Ukraine but in EBU replacement votes to Ukraine were awarded only 6 points.
Azerbaijan spokesperson Narmin Salmanova said she was surprised to see results that did not align with those she was due to represent.
Head of the “Sabaha saxlamayaq” said:
”There were no technical problems on our end. An investigation is underway on this issue, the results of which will be presented to the attention of the general public”
Georgian broadcaster GPB released their statement and it as follows:
”It is noteworthy that the representatives of the national jury approved to evaluate the Eurovision Song Contest make their own assessment not during the final show, but during the previous day, during the dress rehearsal. Points are written, which are sent to the competition organizers in accordance with the relevant procedures, including notarisation. Points are announced on the day of the final. The Public Broadcaster met all the conditions, sent an official document and received the consent of the European Broadcasting Union that there were no shortcomings.At the Eurovision Song Contest, the national jury from Georgia gave the highest rating – the first place to Ukraine, which means 12 points. However, when announcing the points on the final show, it turned out that 12 points from Georgia were awarded to the United Kingdom. The Georgian delegation of Eurovision, which attended the competition, protested the situation with the organizer of Eurovision, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). An investigation is underway at the EBU at this time and the broadcaster is awaiting the results.
At the same time, a similar problem has arisen not only in Georgia, but also in several other countries, which is also being investigated by the European Broadcasting Union.”
Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska also states:
”Telewizja Polska categorically rejects all accusations made against Polish jurors as groundless and absurd. They voted solely according to their feelings and discretion, without taking into account any algorithm, not even the EBU algorithm. Assessing Ukraine as the highest, they expressed their independence and the lack of any connection between their notes and the votes cast by other countries for Poland.
In the coming days, Telewizja Polska will explain the situation with representatives of the European Broadcasting Union, which is the organiser of the Eurovision Song Contest. They will receive a TVP protest and a demand to improve the transparency of voting and the awarding of points, so as to avoid unnecessary confusion this year in the future.”
It’s still unclear how this going to affect Eurovision 2023 if any of those 6 countries will withdraw from the competition due to this situation but the time will tell.
Kalush Orchestra won Eurovision 2022 with the song ”Stefania” and still unknown where Eurovision 2023 will be held.
