EUROVISION ORGANISERS ARE working on a change to the audience voting system that could help to limit the influence of campaigns that interfere with the results.<\/p>\n
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has been considering a switch to online voting instead of the traditional telephone and text message options.<\/p>\n
The move, which was first reported by Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, comes after a report last year found that an Israeli government agency paid for adverts<\/a> targeting the Eurovision public vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the wake of the 2025 contest, the director of the Eurovision said it would \u201clook at the promotion of acts by their delegations\u201d to ensure \u201csuch promotion is not disproportionately affecting\u201d the audience voting.<\/p>\n Organisers said at the time that voting rules for the song contest would be \u201cmajorly overhauled\u201d.<\/p>\n In a statement today to The Journal, the EBU said: \u201cWe can confirm that we have begun investigating a move to wholly online audience voting for the Eurovision Song Contest and more details will be announced in the months ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n Aftonbladet reports<\/a> that an internal letter sent by the EBU to member broadcasters says it hopes the changes will \u201cincrease engagement and willingness to vote and help dilute the effect of mobilised bloc voting, without compromising fairness or trust\u201d.<\/p>\n The change could also require voters to cast a vote for more than just one entry, which could mean voting for their top three favourite acts.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, the EBU\u00a0announced that a winning Eurovision country will no longer be allowed to host<\/a>\u00a0the contest the following year if an armed conflict or a \u201csensitive\u201d geopolitical situation is affecting their state or neighbouring countries.<\/p>\n The host country rule change followed years of mounting criticism over Israel\u2019s participation in the contest, which prompted several countries, including Ireland, to choose not to participate this year<\/a> in protest.<\/p>\n Ordinarily, the host of a given year\u2019s contest is the country that won the year before.<\/p>\n When Ukraine won in 2022, it wasn\u2019t allowed to host the next year due to security concerns caused by Russia\u2019s invasion, with the 2023 contest instead hosted by the UK in Liverpool.<\/p>\n Now, with the change announced this week, any country will be ineligible if \u201can armed conflict, a sensitive geopolitical situation, or any other situation materially affects the security, safety or stability of their state or immediate region\u201d.<\/p>\n If such a situation arises, the EBU will commission an independent security assessment and consult a reference group to determine whether or not the winner can safely host the contest.<\/p>\n If not, the EBU will choose a different location to host the following year.<\/p>\n Israel came close to winning this year\u2019s contest, ending in second place \u2013 raising concerns about what would happen if they won the contest with the expectation of hosting despite perpetuating ongoing violence in both Gaza and the West Bank.<\/p>\n Over the previous two years, an Israeli government agency spent at least $1 million on promotional campaigns linked to Eurovision voting, according to reporting by the New York Times.<\/p>\n For the 2026 contest, the Eurovision reduced the number of votes a person could cast \u2018per payment method\u2019 from 20 down to 10. Kevin Cunningham, founder of the Ireland Thinks polling company<\/a>, said the reduction in the number of votes a person could cast could have some impact, but that it would be \u2018marginal\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n