Organizers of Eurovision are defending its voting system after several countries’ broadcasters raised questions about Israel’s victory in the international song contest’s audience poll.
Israel’s Yuval Raphael took second place in the widely-watched contest last weekend, buoyed by a runaway first-place finish in the audience vote, in which viewers in the competing countries can cast ballots up to 20 times for their favorite songs, at the cost of about a dollar per vote.
Raphael came to the contest bracing for anti-Israel protests, including during her performances. Now, her success has public broadcasters in a range of European countries demanding that the European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, conduct an audit of its televoting system. Some have alluded to Israel manipulating the vote.
José Pablo López, president of Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, said some delegations to the contest, including Spain’s “expressed grave concern about Israel’s participation, the transparency, legitimacy, and perceived integrity of the current voting system,” RTVE reported.
Lopez was joined in such calls by broadcasters from Ireland, Belgium, Iceland and Finland. Israel won the maximum number of points from the audience vote in Spain and Belgium despite their respective juries awarding Israel zero points.
“We have no indication that the counting of the televotes wasn’t carried out correctly, but we are asking for complete transparency on the part of the EBU,” said Yasmine Van der Borght, spokesperson for Flemish public broadcaster VRT. “The question is above all whether the current system guarantees a fair reflection of the opinion of viewers and listeners.”
Responding to the complaints, Eurovision director Martin Green said the voting system was reliable and unbiased.
“Our voting partner Once has confirmed that a valid vote was recorded in all countries participating in this year’s Grand Final and in the rest of the world,” said Green in a statement. “The voting operation for the Eurovision Song Contest is the most advanced in the world and each country’s result is checked and verified by a huge team of people to exclude any suspicious or irregular voting patterns. An independent compliance monitor reviews both jury and public vote data to ensure we have a valid result.”
Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, Israel has faced calls to be banned from Eurovision. The Spanish and Flemish broadcasters displayed pro-Palestinian messaging during the competition, with RTVE airing the message, “When human rights are at stake, silence is not an option. Peace and Justice for Palestine.” López tweeted the same statement, along with an article claiming that the Israeli government conducted a digital influence campaign for Eurovision votes.
On Monday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for the exclusion of Israel from international cultural events, including Eurovision. He referenced Russia’s ban from the competition over its invasion of Ukraine, and said “we cannot allow double standards.”
One day earlier, Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister for diaspora affairs, posted a meme to X of Sanchez with a shocked expression looking at the Spanish voting results, with Israel on top.
“Sanchez, it seems the Spanish have spoken, and we have heard the slap in the face here in Jerusalem,” wrote Chikli.
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