EBU release on voting patterns during the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 and summary of related experiences

Feedback from broadcasters in the countries concerned on alleged irregularities

Following the conclusion of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 and the publication of the details of the scoring, the broadcasters of the countries involved in the jury scoring topic (Azerbaijan, Georgia/Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, San Marino) have published their statements on the matter; In the continuation of this article, we summarise these responses – the individual statements are published in the original, translated from the language of the publication into English, without alteration or commentary, in the chronological order of publication on the ESCXtra Eurovision site.

Statement by the Romanian public broadcaster TVR on the exclusion of jury points (15/05/22)

“We were surprised to discover that the result of the Romanian jury’s vote was not taken into account in the calculation of the final ranking. The organisers assigned a different set of points to the participants of the final, on behalf of the jury of our country. We specify that the Romanian jury decided to give maximum score to the representatives of Moldova.

In the message [sent to participating countries on Saturday night], Romania was not explicitly mentioned on the list of the six countries, nor did it receive an official communication regarding the suspicion of the organisers regarding the jury vote in Romania at the end of the second semi-final in which it the find of »irregular voting patterns« is specified. The person in charge of the communication between TVR and EBU for the national jury vote noticed the discrepancy between the scores sent the day before, after the show for the jury, and the scores that EBU announced as coming from the national jury during the event.

At the same time, our spokesperson Eda Marcus was not allowed to appear on the official broadcast to present the results […]. Moreover, during Saturday, the person in charge of voting from TVR participated in two briefings with the organisers to establish the rules of for Eda Marcus. She also participated in the rehearsal for the transmission of the jury’s result, without receiving any communication regarding any suspicions or the organisers’ intention to make changes to the Romanian jury vote.

We emphasize that the national jury watched the show, after which they voted in the presence of a notary and complied with the rules introduced by the organisers. We reiterate that neither the jurors nor the TVR representatives were notified, after the second semifinal, of the existence of any suspicions about Romania’s vote.

Therefore, the rules were changed during the game, without the participants being notified in advance, as they found out during the broadcast that some votes of the national juries were changed by the organisers.

In this extraordinary situation, which surprised us unpleasantly, TVR asked the ESC organisers to provide us, officially, the clear reasons why they replaced the jury score in Romania with a »substitute« calculated in a non-transparent way. Depending on the answer that will be sent to us, TVR reserves the right to take measures to correct the situation created.”

Statement by Montenegrin public broadcaster RTCG on the exclusion of the jury points (16/05/22)

“After the information made on the Eurovision website that the voting of juries in six countries was contested at the second semifinal evening of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, we would like to inform the public that we have sent a request for clarification to authorized representatives of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

They stated that the voting in the RTCG study took place in a regular procedure, and after that it was duly certified by the EBU, and that they see no reason to suspect any form of irregularity and expect a detailed answer to that question.

»When it comes to the final night, as the audience could see in a live television broadcast, the votes were announced publicly and the taste of our jury largely coincided with the “schedule” of countries on the final table«, the statement said.

The RTCG Eurovision delegation points out that they will inform the public as soon as possible about all the information they receive from the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.”

Statement by the Georgian/Georgian public service broadcaster GPB on the exclusion of the jury points (16/05/22)

“It is noteworthy that the representatives of the national jury approved to evaluate the Eurovision Song Contest make their own assessment not during the final show, but during the previous day, during the dress rehearsal. Points are written, which are sent to the competition organizers in accordance with the relevant procedures, including notarization. Points are announced on the day of the final. The public broadcaster met all the conditions, sent an official document and received the consent of the European Broadcasting Union that there were no shortcomings.

At the Eurovision Song Contest, the national jury from Georgia gave the highest rating – the first place to Ukraine, which means 12 points. However, when announcing the points on the final show, it turned out that 12 points from Georgia were awarded to the United Kingdom. The Georgian delegation of Eurovision, which attended the competition, protested the situation with the organizer of Eurovision, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). An investigation is underway at the EBU at this time and the broadcaster is awaiting the results.

At the same time, not only Georgia, but also several other countries have faced a similar problem, which is also being investigated by the European Broadcasting Union.

At the same time, the Public Broadcaster explains that the Georgian side had no interest in manipulating the results of the competition, as the representative of our country, unfortunately, could not move to the final show. It was of fundamental importance to the national jury to get 12 points for a worthy contestant, who in this case was the representative of Ukraine, who won a convincing victory. Georgian Public Broadcaster remains in active communication with the European Broadcasting Union regarding the current situation and hopes that the results of the investigation will be announced soon, about which we will inform the public.”

Statement by the Azerbaijani public broadcaster İctimai on the exclusion of jury points (17/05/22)

“The events that took place during the final stage of the Eurovision-2022 song contest and the decisions made after that were met with regret by the Azerbaijan Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.

We declare that we sent the names of the countries voted by the Azerbaijani jury to the organizers of the competition. According to the list, 12 points were given to Ukraine. In response, the organizers of the competition urged the representatives of the Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company to announce other results at the end of the final show, without giving any reasons. We have categorically rejected this request. An official letter of inquiry was immediately sent to the organizers, and we said that we would announce the voices of our jury, and not the results of the live broadcast, and make this issue public.

Only then were we informed that there was some “strangeness” in the voices of six countries, including Azerbaijan, during Thursday’s semi-finals. It should be noted that we have not been informed about this »strangeness« from Thursday to the end of the final on Saturday, and no »evidence« has been provided so far.

Despite the fact that the representative of the Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company was ready to announce the results of the jury voting in Azerbaijan during the broadcast, the organizers of the competition were not closed to Baku, but announced their results on our behalf. The failure to carry out this process in Baku is due to technical problems. However, we did not have any technical problems to announce the votes live.

We emphasize once again that we have not given the organizers any right to announce the votes on behalf of Public Television. We are waiting for an official response to this issue and plan to take the next steps depending on it. We hope that the situation will be resolved soon, provided that justice is done.”

Statement by the Polish public broadcaster TVP on the exclusion of jury points (17/05/22)

“Telewizja Polska categorically rejects all accusations made against Polish jurors as groundless and absurd. They voted solely according to their feelings and discretion, without taking into account any algorithm, not even the EBU algorithm. Assessing Ukraine as the highest, they expressed their independence and the lack of any connection between their notes and the votes cast by other countries for Poland.

In the coming days, Telewizja Polska will explain the situation with representatives of the European Broadcasting Union, which is the organiser of the Eurovision Song Contest. They will receive a TVP protest and a demand to improve the transparency of voting and the awarding of points, so as to avoid unnecessary confusion this year in the future.+

We will update this article as soon as we receive statements from the public broadcasters of the other countries concerned or developments in the case.