In 2023, a number of changes have been made to the voting system at the Eurovision Song Contest. EBU a while ago through the official website of the contest, revealed the full details of the voting procedures for the upcoming contest.
One of the biggest change from this year is that viewers watching around the world can vote for their favourite songs, alongside of course those in the participating countries. There are also changes to how the qualifiers from each Semi-Final will be decided.
Audience Voting
For the very first time viewers watching in eligible countries not participating in this year’s competition will also be able to vote in each Semi-Final and the Grand Final. The list of the eligible countries will be announced in the following weeks.
All viewers will be able to vote using the official Eurovision App or go directly to www.esc.vote.
In addition those watching in the participating countries can vote by telephone and/or SMS, as it used to be in the previous years.
Professional juries
A Professional Jury is appointed by the broadcaster in each of the 37 countries taking part in the competition.
Each Jury consists of 5 members. They will rank the candidate songs according on the following criteria:
– composition and originality of the song,
– quality of the performance on stage,
– vocal capacity of the performer(s),
– overall impression of the act.
The Top 10 songs with the highest ranks are awarded 1 – 8, 10, and 12 points.
Voting in the Semi-Finals
In a change to recent years, only viewers at home will determine the outcome of the two Semi-Finals of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Viewers in the 15 countries taking part in Semi-Final 1 are eligible to vote alongside three of the countries pre-qualified for the Grand Final – France, Germany, and Italy.
Viewers in the 16 countries taking part in Semi-Final 2 are eligible to vote alongside three of the other countries pre-qualified for the Grand Final – Spain, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.
Those watching in any other eligible non-participating country can vote via a secure online platform – www.esc.vote
Voting will open after the last song is performed for approximately 15 minutes.
When the vote closes the Top 10 most popular songs in each participating country will be allocated points from 1 to 8, 10 and 12 points.
The 10 songs that have received the most votes from the “Rest Of The World” will be allocated points using the same scale and have the weight of one additional voting country.
When all the points from the Audience are added together the 10 countries with the highest number of points will qualify for the Grand Final.
Voting in the Grand Final
Viewers in all 37 countries taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 can vote for the 26 songs in the Grand Final (10 qualifiers from Semi-Final 1 and 2 and THE 6 pre-qualified countries)
Those watching in the participating countries can vote using the official Eurovision Song Contest app, or by telephone and/or SMS. Relevant numbers will be displayed on screen by each participating broadcaster.
Those watching in any other eligible non-participating country can vote via a secure online platform – www.esc.vote
Voting will open after the last song is performed for approximately 40 minutes.
When the vote closes the Top 10 most popular songs in each participating country will be allocated points from 1 to 8, 10 and 12 points.
The 10 songs that have received the most votes from the “Rest Of The World” will be allocated points using the same scale and have the weight of one additional voting country.
Each Jury will watch and cast their votes based on Dress Rehearsal 2 which will take place in the evening of Friday 12 May. At the end of the televoting window, the results of each National Jury will be presented live one by one by a spokesperson in each participating country and appear on a scoreboard.
During this time, the EBU, its Voting Partner and Independent Voting Observer will count and verify the audience results.
After all the Jury points are given, the combined total points from the Audiences of the participating countries and the Rest of the World are presented.
The cumulative points total for each country in the Grand Final is then added to the scoreboard, country by country, beginning with the country that was ranked last by the Jury and working up the scoreboard to the country that was ranked first.
The country at the top of the scoreboard at the end of this sequence is the winner.
In the event of a tie, after all points are distributed from the Audience and Jury vote, the winner shall be the song which has which has obtained the highest rank from all the National Audiences and the ROTW Audience.
