TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Eurovision Song Contest voting to be opened up to non-participating countries
Viewers will be able to vote via a secure online platform, and a full list of eligible countries will be published nearer the time of the event, usually held in May.
Change Size
Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine pose for photographers after winning the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, in Turin, Italy, May 15, 2022. (Reuters/Yara Nardi)
V
iewers from countries not participating in the Eurovision Song Contest will be able to cast a vote for their favourite act next year for the first time in the competition's history, the organiser said on Tuesday.
It said the new "Rest of the World" vote was to strengthen the audience's power to influence the results and to recognise the global reach of the competition, which last year drew a television audience of more than 160 million.
Viewers will be able to vote via a secure online platform, and a full list of eligible countries will be published nearer the time of the event, usually held in May.
"Votes from countries not participating will be combined to create a set of points with the same weight as one participating country in both of the Semi-Finals and the Grand Final," the contest's organisers said on their website.
The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in the northern English city of Liverpool on behalf of this year's winners Ukraine.
Decades-long tradition usually dictates that the winner of the contest gets to host it the following year, but the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said safety and security reasons due to the ongoing conflict there meant runners-up the United Kingdom would host it instead.
The contest's organisers said they were also making changes to the voting system for the semi-finals, which would now be decided by viewers alone rather than a combination of votes from viewers and national juries of musical experts as previously.
The grand final results will still be decided by a combination of votes by viewers and juries.
It said the changes were designed to protect the event's integrity after irregular voting patterns in the results of six countries in the 2022 contest.
