Stig Karlsen, the head of the Norwegian delegation for Eurovision, has expressed his dissatisfactions of the current voting system.
4 days ago, Stig Karlsen gave an interview to the Hungarian Eurovíziós Podcast.
During the interview, he related to the voting system debate that has been brought back to the table, following the Eurovision 2023 grand final results.
Stig believes that 30%-40% should be allocated to the jury voting, while 60%-70% should be allocated to the public voting.
You can watch the full interview here:
As you all recall, Sweden’s Loreen won Eurovision 2023, due to finishing first with the jury. She ended 2nd with the public, with 0 sets of 12 points. In contrast, Finland’s Käärijä led the public vote, but due to the gaps between public and jury vote, Finland ended as the runner-up.
In general, the jury/public voting discrepancies stood out more than usual this year.
Stig revealed that the Norwegian delegation believes that different jury/public weighting should be reconsidered.
The main arguments he raised were:
- Having the public’s favorite fail to win, the viewers might be left disappointed.
- The national jury includes around 200 members (this year: 185 members, as 37 countries participated). In 50/50 system, they have an equal impact to Million of voters.
- However, involving the jury helps with reducing bloc voting. Including them also helps leverage the excitement.
The new proposal would probably be introduced to the EBU in September 2023, when some delegations will meet the EBU.
Previously, it has been reported that the Eurovision reference group might get a final decision regarding the format by January 2024.
It is worth mentioning that in the recent years, Norway has been ranked higher with the public rather than the jury. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that Norway will be one of the countries to support such a change:
| Year | Public Points | Public Rank | Jury Points | Jury Rank | Final Place |
| 2019 | 291 | 1st | 40 | 18th | 6th |
| 2021 | 60 | 13th | 15 | 22nd | 18th |
| 2022 | 146 | 7th | 36 | 17th | 10th |
| 2023 | 216 | 3rd | 52 | 17th | 5th |
Alessandra Mele represented Norway at Eurovision 2023.
She performed “Queen of Kings” and finished-up 5th in the final, with a total of 268 points
What do you think?
Should the voting system be modified?
Should the jury power decrease?
