The Eurovision Song Contest, renowned for its eclectic musical showcase, has seen its voting system evolve since the first contest in 1956. Let's delve into the current process while looking at its historical predecessors and see what the future has in store.

The current system was introduced in 2016 to address concerns about bloc voting and political bias. It uses a two-tiered system; 50% of the votes come from televoting, where viewers can call in and vote for their favourite act (they cannot vote for their own country) and 50% of the votes come from national juries (each country appoints a five-member jury that evaluates performances based on various criteria during the dress rehearsal, they assign points excluding their own country's entry). Two sets of points are awarded from each country and the country with the highest total wins.  

Prior to this, Eurovision used a variety of national juries since its inception in 1956, they introduced televoting for some countries from 1997 and a full televoting system from 1998. From 2009 a mix of juries and televoting was used to issue one set of points from each country. The combined double-point system we see today seeks to strike a balance between professional judgment and public opinion.

This system has, however, caused controversy. In 2019 Norway (KEiiNO – Spirit in the Sky) won the televote meaning it was the viewers’ favourite song however the juries placed them only 18th out of 26 acts and so after both sets of points were combined their final place was sixth. Interestingly, in 2019 the winner The Netherlands (Duncan Laurence – Arcade) was neither the viewers’ or the juries top song.

More recently, in 2023, the viewers’ favourite also didn’t win. Finland (Käärijä – Cha Cha Cha) won the televote with a HUGE 133 point lead over second place Sweden. However the juries placed Finland fourth of 26 acts and so after all was combined they finished second overall. Also interestingly, the 2023 winner Sweden (Loreen – Tattoo) didn’t receive the top 12 points in the televote from a single of the 37 countries that voted, nor the additional Rest of the World vote.

There are now calls for reform and a fairer voting system for the 2024 contest in Malmö. Driven by Norwegian broadcaster NRK, there may be a change to the current 50/50 voting system and we may see a reduced weighting to the jury vote although nothing has been announced so far.

The contest has evolved hugely since 1956 and will continue to do so. Millions of global viewers tune in every year and while unpredictability is expected and relished, the contest needs to remain fair and the viewers’ need to feel listened to.

Malmö 2024 is already set to be a huge and exciting contest and we’re all looking forward to seeing what is in store. The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö, Sweden on Tuesday 7 May 2024 (First Semi-Final), Thursday 9 May 2024 (Second Semi-Final) and Saturday 11 May 2024 (Grand Final).