Eurovision set to change rules following Israel’s public vote success

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the event, strongly denied any irregularity, with Eurovision Director Martin Green saying: “An independent verification device checks both the jury and public voting data to ensure a valid result.”

Nonetheless, the EBU is now changing the voting process to crack down on third-party promotional campaigns, following reports that an Israeli government agency paid for social media adverts promoting Raphael’s entry.

Contestants and broadcasters will now be prohibited from participating in campaigns organised by governments or any other external entity, while organisers will “discourage disproportionate promotion campaigns” in general.

Juries, previously only used for the grand final, will also return for the semi-finals to balance out the influence of the public vote.

And the number of votes each viewer can cast will be slashed from 20 to 10, further limiting the voters’ impact.

This will be coupled with technical monitoring to detect any fraudulent or manipulated voting processes.

"There was a little fear that we're seeing some undue promotion, particularly by third parties, perhaps governments, that are out of proportion of the rest of the natural promotion that you should see in the show,” said Green.

“We are taking clear and decisive steps to ensure the contest remains a celebration of music and unity. The contest should remain a neutral space and must not be instrumentalised.”

But he also hit out at reported boycott threats over Israel’s future participation, urging participating unions to “keep the geopolitics off of the stage”.