World
EBU rejects claims Eurovision was ‘rigged’ after public vote surge for Israel
The event organiser has shut down accusations of vote manipulation, which had been hinted at by some participating countries
May 20, 2025 11:20
The event organiser has shut down accusations of vote manipulation, which had been hinted at by some participating countries
May 20, 2025 11:20The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has shut down concerns over the Eurovision voting process after several national broadcasters expressed doubts about Israel’s exceptional public vote results.
In response to a social media campaigning claiming that the vote was “rigged”, the Union has stressed that “the Eurovision voting process is the most advanced in the world”, and that “each country’s results are checked and verified by a huge team of people to rule out any suspicious or irregular voting patterns”.
The statement, released by Director of the Eurovision Song Contest Martin Green, explianed: “An independent verification device checks both the jury and public voting data to ensure a valid result.”
Green also addressed the concerns raised by some of the participating nations, adding: “We remain in constant contact with all participating broadcasters and take their concerns seriously.
“Now that the event has concluded, we will have a broad discussion with the participating broadcasters to reflect and get feedback on all aspects of this year’s event. It is part of our planning process for next year’s 70th Eurovision Song Contest.”
In the public vote, 12 countries voted Israel as their favourite performance in the 2025 contest, and Israeli delegate Yuval Raphael’s astounding 297 points from the audience vote was widely reported to be the highest in the competition’s history.
However, Spanish broadcaster RTVE, which allegedly broke Eurovision policy by airing pro-Palestine statements during the competition’s grand final last week, requested a detailed breakdown of the country’s voting data. Their application came after Raphael received the maximum 12 points from the Spanish public, despite their government’s vehemently pro-Palestinian stance.
RTVE’s call for an audit of voting data was swiftly match by Belgian Dutch-language broadcaster VRT, expressing similar doubts over Belgium’s public vote which also awarded the coveted “douze points” to Israel.
Yasmine Van der Borght, a spokesperson for VRT, said in a statement on Monday: “We have no indications that the points count was not done correctly, but we are asking for full transparency from the EBU. The question is whether the current voting system guarantees a fair reflection of the opinion of the viewers and listeners.”
She added: “We at VRT have noticed that the Eurovision Song Contest as it is currently organised is becoming less and less of a unifying and apolitical event. It is increasingly at odds with the original norms and values of the event and with the norms and values of public broadcasting.”
“VRT works well with the EBU on many levels, but without a serious response to our concerns regarding the Eurovision Song Contest, we are questioning our future participation,” Van der Borght said.
According to Eurovoix, one of the leading sources for Eurovision news, VRT cannot decide whether Belgium participates in Eurovision 2026 because French-language broadcaster RTBF will organise the country’s participation next year. However, VRT is due to return as the organiser for Belgian participation in 2027 and could then make the decision to pull out.
Icelandic broadcaster RÚV has similarly requested televoting data from the EBU after Iceland’s public vote resulted in four points for Israel.
RÚV Director Stefán Eiríksson said on Monday: “The telephone vote is entirely the responsibility of the EBU, which negotiates with telecommunications companies in each country about its implementation, and therefore, we do not have access to any information other than that which has already been made public at this stage.”
Voting can be conducted in participating countries via the app (up to 20 votes per person at 99c each), by text message or by phone call. The vote is recorded as from the country where the SIM card of the device used originates.