Six countries 'manipulated' Eurovision vote, voted for each other

2022-05-21 20:49:48Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Six countries 'manipulated' Eurovision vote, voted for each other

The European Union of Broadcasters EBU, which organises Eurovision, said on Thursday it had identified voting irregularities in six countries that participated in Eurovision 2022, including Montenegro, Romania and Poland.

He said "irregular voting patterns" were also noted in Azerbaijan, Georgia and San Marino after the second tests and the second semifinal of the show.

"Four of the six juries placed five of the other countries in their top five, considering they could not vote for themselves. A jury voted for the same five seats in the top six and the last of the six juries placed four of the others in the top four... Four out of six received at least a 12-point group that is the maximum it can give," the EBU said in a press release.

"An irregularity of the jury voting model on such a scale is unprecedented," the statement said.

On May 15, the EBU declared the votes of six juries invalid after "irregular voting patterns" were discovered in the second semifinal and replaced them with a summary replacement result. He decided that the votes of the six juries in the grand final would be invalid.

Montenegro sought clarification from the EBU on why the jury vote was removed from the competition.

"The Montenegrin jury vote was conducted normally and properly certified by the EBU and we see no reason to suspect any form of irregularity. The way our jury voted is largely in line with the final results of the contest," the statement said.

On 16 May, Romanian television said it was surprised that the result of the Romanian jury vote was not included in the final ranking, with organisers appointing another set of points for the contenders in the final on behalf of the country's jury.

Polish broadcaster TVP responded to Poland's jury vote exemption, denying any involvement in vote manipulation by either the Polish broadcaster or jury.

 


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