The mass public vote granted to the Israeli candidate on Eurovision 2025, which was held on Saturday, May 17 in Basel (Switzerland), arouses controversy. While several international competition stations ask that the light will be released from the details of the votes, the director of the Tele-Hook defends the counting system.
“It is important to insist on the fact that the voting system for the Eurovision of the song is the most advanced in the world,” says Martin Green, as the independent reports.
“The results of each country are consulted and verified by a great team to rule out any suspicion of irregularities (…) An independent compliance control device examines the data of the vote and the public to ensure that the results are valid.”
“We are in constant contact with the stations participating in the competition of the Eurovision song and take their concerns very seriously,” he concludes. Because several public stations that participate in the competition have expressed their skepticism in the face of Israel’s results, represented by the singer Yuval Raphael and the song The new day will rise.
Protest
Israel’s participation in Eurovision arouses animated debates due to the murder response led by the Israeli government in Gaza for 19 months, in response to the massacre of October 7, 2023. The European Radio-Television Union (UER, organizer of the program), which argues the apolitical DNA of the competition, maintains its participation in this stage.
The protests were redoubled in view of the results of this 69th edition: Arrival 15 of the votes of international jurors with only 60 points, the candidate of the Hebrew State found himself at the top of those of the public with 297 points, occupying the second place in the final result behind Austria (and in front of France, arrived seventh with Louye).
A last minute turn, and an great unusual gap, which made a wind of skepticism breathe among some of the international competitions. Starting with that of the Spanish public audiovisual group RTVE that, in a statement, he said that “the Spanish delegation asked (…) knowing how the Spanish vote was distributed, that is, how many votes each country has received in Spain.”
According to the declaration of the Eurovision organizers, the Spanish Televoto granted the majority of its votes to the Israeli candidate, when the jury of Spanish professionals had not given any point.
SPANISH LONG POB
RTVE also announced that “he would claim the opening of a debate about the televoto, to determine if the way he is directed is the best”, worrying that “current armed conflicts affect him and that competition in his cultural DNA”.
The Spanish public service is particularly critical of Israel’s participation in Eurovision. Last April, the RTVE requested a “debate” on the subject, due to the “concerns” related to the situation in Gaza. On Saturday night, a few moments before the launch of Eurovision broadcast, Spanish television published some words of support for the Palestinians. And the day after the final of the competition, the Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez requested the exclusion of the country.
Belgian retirement threat
Following Spanish communication, many European broadcasters have also requested information about the counting system, without specifically evoking the issue of votes in favor of Israel: “We will ask the UE if it would not be time to update the rules (vote), or at least if the current rules open the door to abuse,” said a representative of Finnish Diffuser. Same complaint of the side of Ireland, Iceland and Belgium.
VRT, the Belgian station, also requires “total transparency” in the votes and joins the request for a “debate” on Israeli participation. “We found that Eurovision competition, as organized today, is less and less a unifying and apolitical event,” he said.
“Without a serious answer to our concerns (…), we will think of our future participation.”
The Flemish deputy Katia Segers also spoke, estimating with the media the future that each one can vote 20 times, as is the case of Eurovision, “it is a system that encourages manipulation”: “An investigation must take place to know if this manipulation took place in our country or in all others.”
Source: BFM TV
