EBU: Irregular voting at Eurovision 2022, six juries supported each other, among them Montenegro

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced "Irregular voting patterns during the second semi-final 2022" at this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

"This year's Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) was a huge success, bringing together hundreds of millions of people around the world in unity and celebration. As announced on Saturday 14 May, the independent pan-European voting partner of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has discovered irregular voting patterns in the vote of the jury of six countries participating in the second semi-final: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, San Marino", the press release published on the official website of Eurovision highlights.

The RTCG Eurovision team announced that after the EBU's announcement about the alleged irregular voting by the expert jury in as many as six countries for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, they want to emphasize that it has nothing to do with Montenegro and that it is only about assumptions that are not correct, and by no means verified. information.

The EBU said that the integrity of the voting, both by the national juries in each country, and by the viewers who vote by phone or SMS, is essential for the success of the show.

"It is the EBU's duty to all stakeholders, not just all 40 participating public broadcasters, to ensure that we can deliver a valid result at the end of each live show. This is why any breach of the rules is taken very seriously. In the second semi-final, it was noted that four of the six juries included five other countries in their top five (considering they could not vote for themselves); one jury voted the same five countries in their Top 6; and the last of the six juries placed four others in the Top 4 and fifth in their Top 7. Four of the six juries received at least one set of 12 points, which is the maximum that can be awarded," the EBU press release points out.

They added that this pattern was found to be irregular by the Pan-European Voting Partner and acknowledged by the Independent Voting Monitor, as five of these six countries were ranked outside the top eight by juries in 15 other countries voting in the same semi-final ( which included three of the Big Five: Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom).

"In addition, four of the six countries were ranked in the bottom six of the other 15 countries that voted in this semi-final. An irregularity in the way the jury voted on such a scale is unprecedented," the EBU said.

The EBU said that as stated in the Eurovision Song Contest Rules and in the Official Contest Voting Instructions, if the national juries' votes represent irregular voting patterns (which can be detected by the Pan-European Voting Partner and confirmed by the Independent Voting Monitor), the ESC Executive Supervisor has the right to remove the ranking votes and replace them with a substitute aggregate score automatically calculated to determine the final score of these countries in the second semi-final.

"Given the unprecedented nature of the irregularities discovered in the second semi-final, the EBU, in consultation with the pan-European voting partner and the independent voting observer, has decided, in accordance with the Competition's Voting Instructions, to exercise its right to remove the votes cast by the six juries concerned from the ranking in the Grand Final to preserve the integrity of the voting system. Consequently, the same procedure was followed and the automatically calculated aggregate score was used to determine the final jury results of the six countries that participated in the Grand Final," the statement reads.

These decisions are said to have been approved by the Chair of the ESC Reference Group, the Competition Management Board and the EBU Deputy Director General in accordance with the requirements of the Competition Voting Instructions.

"The EBU has since discussed the jury patterns with the relevant broadcasters and given them the opportunity to further investigate the jury votes in their countries. The EBU has reaffirmed its decision to replace the jury votes for these six countries with interchangeable totals in both the second semi-final and the grand final. The EBU has also confirmed the final placing of 40 entrants for Eurovision Song Contest 2022. The EBU, its members and the Reference Group will continue to work closely together to preserve the integrity and success of the event which has been a unique platform for creative talent for over 66 years, and looks forward to continuing to entertain audience around the world, according to the official website of the Eurovision Song Contest," the EBU statement concludes.

The Eurovision team RTCG said that it is statistically impossible to avoid certain repetitions, and this is evidenced by the fact of the voting of the group of countries participating in the second semi-final night in which Sweden, Australia, Belgium, Estonia...

They said that this is their point exchange table:

So, as they point out, with such a small number of countries in the competition, it is impossible to avoid certain repetitions.

"Why these countries did not arouse suspicion, and there are six countries where there are no such direct repetitions, is not for us to judge. On the other hand, in some of the countries that are on the EBU list, the organizer almost completely changed the distribution of points in the final evening and, as we were told, he did not tell the truth in the live TV broadcast, when Martin Osterdahl, executive producer of the Eurovision Song Contest, personally announced the votes due to alleged technical problems during the inclusion of the people who announce the votes of the local jury," the Eurovision Team of Montenegro said in a statement. .

"The votes of Montenegro were announced by the artist Zombijana and, as you could see in the live broadcast, the jury's score almost completely coincided with the final schedule on the final table. As can be seen on the Eurovision Song Contest website, among the countries that received Montenegrin votes ziria, there is none from the list from the semi-final night. In the end, the Eurovision Song Contest is a competition that has its regular and large audience and which is almost always accompanied by various intrigues, which, we are sure, contribute to its popularity," the announcement concludes.

The Montenegrin jury consisted of Isidora Damjanović, Zoja Đurović, Božo Bulatović, Mila Nikić and Luka Vojvodić.