Moments ago, the EBU confirmed that the changes to the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest will see the juries return with a 50% share of the voting rights. Televoting will be used to find the other 50% of the votes. The exact details of jury composition will be decided at the reference group meeting this week.

The need to bring back a jury vote as a means of putting an end to what has become seen as obvious political or diaspora voting has been clear for some time. The perception of biased voting has led to a decline in reputation of the Eurovision Song Contest in Western Europe as a fair music competition and led Sir Terry Wogan to resign as the UK commentator after almost four decades of coverage.

 

In a bid to bring back credibility to the competition voting method, the EBU moved earlier this year to annouce the return of the jury. Since then the reference group have been investigating different voting methods and at last, the final details of how the voting system will work has been announced.

 

In line with improving the result credibility, the Eurovision Song Contest reference group will determine this week how the juries will be composed and what can be done to avoid deal making between participating counties. A spokesman for the EBU told esctoday.com:

 

"This Wednesday and Thursday, the Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest will meet in Moscow to decide upon the exact way the national juries will be composed, and to discuss rules to assure a fair jury vote".

 

How it will work

 

esctoday.com believes that following the performance of the 25 songs in the Eurovision Song Contest final, the televote will take place as usual. At the same time, the jury results will be compiled.

Each country will then add their 1-12 points for the televote and jury together, to create their national scorecard.

The highest placed country will receive the '12 points, second placed country will receive the '10 points' and so on.

Where countries are tied for points, the one with the higher televote position will be given the advantage and the additional point.

 

The semi finals of the Eurovision Song Contest are unaffected by the change in voting. Once again, the televote will determine the first nine qualifiers from each semi final. The highest placed country on the back-up jury score board that has not already qualified will be awarded the tenth and final qualification spot from each semi final.

 

:w00t: Great news if you ask me.

This certainly has been a great week for Eurovision.

 

It's not perfect - I'd rather they took into account the scores of all 25 songs rather than just the top tens to make the votes - but 50/50 is a brilliant result so I can hardly complain!!

 

I can see certain posters poo-pooing the idea though as there was never anything wrong with the voting, and no need to bring juries back :rolleyes:

It's great! I'm sick of Ireland giving the UK, Poland etc high points where they're not needed, and vice versa. I think the small countries with great music like Malta will benefit greatly from this. If Ireland go back to ballads, then I think we could secure a high place :P

 

It'll be interesting to see how Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Poland, Lithuania etc. all cope as this could shatter the Diaspora vote.

Edited December 9, 200816 yr by Cal

Good news from a western perspective, or for songs which may not have massive audience appeal as they're not memorable enough, but really there weren't massive problems with the system anyway (Hi Peter :kink:). It's no coincidence that the worst songs (save Turkey/Armenia some years) tend to finish near the bottom. It will be good to see the diaspora vote destroyed though! :cheer:

great to hear this :D very pleasing, if it was brought in this year, I'm willing to bet Hold On Be Strong would have been top 3

great to hear this :D very pleasing, if it was brought in this year, I'm willing to bet Hold On Be Strong would have been top 3

 

I would say the top 3 would have been 1.Ukraine 2.Norway 3.Russia 4.Greece 5.Sweden with the UK close to the top ten.

the UK close to the top ten.

 

this would have been awful :lol:

The UK was a good song, and well performed. It didn't deserve it's fate.

 

Weird thing is, I swear they announced this months ago? :unsure:

The UK was a good song, and well performed. It didn't deserve it's fate.

 

Weird thing is, I swear they announced this months ago? :unsure:

 

You're not going mad :P

 

It was announced months ago, but the exact split between televoting and juries hadn't been decided, and alot of fans were expecting them to come up with something pathetic like 90/10, so a 50/50 split is a fantastic victory for sanity!!

The UK was a good song, and well performed. It didn't deserve it's fate.

 

Weird thing is, I swear they announced this months ago? :unsure:

 

it was well performed but it's the most average song the UK have sent this decade, I still sometimes forget how it goes...

 

Scooch and Daz may have been cringeworthy but at least they had melodic pop songs

it was well performed but it's the most average song the UK have sent this decade, I still sometimes forget how it goes...

 

Scooch and Daz may have been cringeworthy but at least they had melodic pop songs

 

Exactly though. It was well performed and it was among the best performed songs of the night...in the era of performance being everything in Eurovision surely it deserved higher than last place.

Exactly though. It was well performed and it was among the best performed songs of the night...in the era of performance being everything in Eurovision surely it deserved higher than last place.

 

and it was performed second...would you have voted for it after seeing the likes of Ani Lorak, Euroband et al?

and it was performed second...would you have voted for it after seeing the likes of Ani Lorak, Euroband et al?

 

No I wouldn't have.

 

But the juries would have, and did, which is why I'm thrilled to have them back.

No I wouldn't have.

 

But the juries would have, and did, which is why I'm thrilled to have them back.

 

and with ALW on board, I will be shocked to see the UK miss the top ten next year

and with ALW on board, I will be shocked to see the UK miss the top ten next year

 

I won't be the slightest bit surprised if we come bottom 5 again. However hopefully other western European countries will finish higher so we don't lose the faith just yet.

 

I struggle to think of a single ALW composition that would be suitable for Eurovision...let's face it, he's not going to come up with a "Shady Lady" is he. The way it is going at the moment, I have got the impression that it is going to be an X Factor style "one song fits all" jobby, so it will have to be extremely bland for all 6 finalists to be able to sing it.

 

It is going to be how Dustin was for Ireland last year...the whole country will be expecting a great result just because we have a big name behind us, and we will lose faith in the competition completely next year when it doesn't pay off.

maybe you're right...Maria Haukaas Storeng proved that the west can still do well with a fantastic song, it just seems to be limited to one western country at a time :(

I hate to admit this, but I kind of agree. Still, he's the man responsible for Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini so there's hope yet ;)

I hate to admit this, but I kind of agree. Still, he's the man responsible for Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini so there's hope yet ;)

 

Except he didn't even right that apparently....or so I read last week.

This is great news, I hope this will keep everyone happy! :D (although someone's still bound to think they're being unfairly treated in the contest :rolleyes:)

 

We could be in for a Very Interesting contest in Moscow! :o

 

It's great! I'm sick of Ireland giving the UK, Poland etc high points where they're not needed, and vice versa.

 

Me too, whatever happened to variety? Ireland giving Poland/Lituania 12 points each year must be one of the most obvious Diasporia votes in the whole contest......perhaps just behind Greece and Cyprus though :kink:

 

 

Except he didn't even right that apparently....or so I read last week.

 

Oh yeah. I think it was an old 60s song.

 

I want to be optimistic about this, but the most recent entry I can think of in anything approaching his style, Monaco 2005, Tout De Moi by Lise Darly, flopped miserably :(