As we’ve reported multiple times over the last week, the EBU removed the voted of 6 juries, who they had found to be cheating, during the Second Semi-Final and the Grand Final. So, what exactly has the fallout of that shocking revelation been?
The 6 juries that had agreed to a voting pact, in an attempt to cheat their way to qualification, were Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, San Marino. So far the broadcasters from Montenegro, San Marino and Romania have strongly denied the claims that they were cheating, with a possible threat of withdrawal in 2023.
RTCG from Montenegro put out a statement, roughly translating to: “with such a small number of countries it is impossible to avoid certain repetitions”, trying to discount what happened as simply coincidence. The EBU released the full detailed voting breakdowns of the juries, showing that it was far from coincidence, with the votes of the 6 juries aligning in an unprecedented way.
San Marino RTV put out a statement, in English, which read…
EBU changes the vote of San Marino which had given 12 points to Italy as for the EBU press release on the alleged voting irregularities that would have occurred during the Eurovision just ended, San Marino RTV specifies that it has always remained in contact with EBU and considered EBU the only interlocutor until yesterday’s release in the late afternoon. The statement was not shared despite the fact that RTV – and the other 5 countries involved – are active members of the consortium. It is important to underline this because the way in which EBU has moved in this affair seems in our opinion a bit authoritarian rather than inspired by the associations that instead guide and regulate the relations between EBU members. We have already pointed out to EBU our disappointment with the way and we are not referring to just the press release that has just come out. When asked if EBU believed the suspicions of voting irregularities to be 100% founded, the answer was no. When asked if EBU had noticed that a group of countries in the second semifinal would apparently have exchanged 12, 10, 8, 7 and 6, the answer was no. When asked why the canceled votes of San Marino and the other 5 suspected countries were all given to Sweden (who were given 72 points) and Australia (60 points for her) the answer was because “they had the best songs. “. Nothing makes us think our jurors voted for something they didn’t like. Their – and ours – 12 to Italy was replaced by EBU with a 12 to Spain. We asked how this new vote was “calculated” but we have not been given a precise answer. We know Eurovision and have been collaborating with them for years, we continue to believe in institutions and in the competition and we cheer for the best, even if it doesn’t always have the best song.
Statement from San Marino RTV
Romania’s broadcaster TVR has also put out a statement refuting the fact their jury votes were removed…
TVR disapproves of the way in which the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) handled the situation generated by the votes of the national juries during the semifinals and the final of the Eurovision 2022 competition votes were divided in a way that raised suspicions.
While some countries have been penalized, the jurors’ grades have been replaced by EBU grades – through a so-called non-transparent “algorithm”, which in turn raises suspicions – for others no sanctions have been applied. Worse, they received additional points, directed by the EBU on behalf of the penalized countries (details at the end of the press release).
The impact of these suspicions on the competition and on the reputation of the sanctioned televisions could have been completely eliminated if the EBU had communicated its concerns to the parties involved as soon as they were observed, ie on Wednesday, 11 May, after the second semi-final for the jury.
Had the EBU communicated to the delegations the notes given by the jurors of the six countries the day after the vote and convincingly explained the existence of an “irregular voting pattern,” TVR would have had time to react to promptly investigate the allegations and correct the situation, if any.
In this way, on Thursday, May 12, we could eliminate any suspicion that hovered over the votes given by the jurors during the second semifinal, and during the gala, for the public, the finalists could be announced based on the notes of the jurors, not on those generated by the “algorithm.”
However, this would have been possible only if the EBU had treated TVR as a real partner and had taken into account the fact that the Eurovision Regulation is the one that gives full independence to national juries and that televisions can neither find out nor influence the scores. granted by jurors, than long after they were sent to the EBU. Thus, TVR did not find out until after the final the way in which the Romanian jurors voted in the semifinals.
Unfortunately, because the EBU decided to send us the relevant information only after seven days, all we could do was ask the Romanian jury for official explanations, “post-factum,” on the vote in the second semifinal. Even in this context, in which we have already been tried and sanctioned, without being given the opportunity to defend ourselves, TVR will collaborate with all other sanctioned televisions to find out if the reported irregularities were the result of an attempted fraud.
Another point to note is that the EBU has prevention and control mechanisms. When there is a suspicion of a jury, it may send observers to oversee the voting process. This is what happened this year when the EBU decided to send observers to two of the six sanctioned countries.
The conclusion of the observers was that the vote was regular and they did not report any misconduct or attempted fraud. This is one of the reasons why at the beginning of the final audition for the public, the EBU representative announced that all the votes cast by the jurors are valid.
In the case of these countries, the organizers did not report “irregular voting patterns.” Moreover, they were given the most points awarded, by “algorithm”, from the countries sanctioned for voting among themselves. Of the six countries accused of having an onerous deal to reach the final, only three succeeded. Of the three countries that received points by “algorithm” from sanctioned countries, all managed to enter the final.
The incomprehensible attitude of the EBU towards TVR, a traditional member of this organization, which deserves to be treated with respect, is also underlined by the fact that the Eurovision organizers chose to lie during the transmission of the final results of the competition. When it was Romania’s turn to announce the result of the jury’s vote, the organizers invoked a non-existent technical problem to present the notes provided by the “algorithm.”
We reiterate what we said in our first statement: there was no technical problem! Eda Marcus was ready to go live, and the connection worked perfectly. The only reason we were forbidden to announce the vote of the Romanian jury, which had awarded 12 points to Moldova, was that we refused to accept the score imposed by the EBU.
Following the situation created and the image damage brought to the public television, the TVR representatives consider the withdrawal of Romania from the future editions of Eurovision and the action in court of the event organizers.
Statement from TVR
While the other 3 countries aren’t particularly happy about how events have turned out, officially, they haven’t released any rebuttal against the EBU’s evidence of them cheating. It is suspected this is because they have been caught out and they don’t wish to continue the embarrassing matter any further, especially if it could see their suspension from the 2023 contest.
The only reason these 6 countries haven’t been suspended, is likely because the EBU are trying to be nice, as in the rules of the contest, they really should be. Montenegro, San Marino and Romania now run the risk of trying the EBU’s patience, by rebutting the fact they clearly cheating, which could see suspensions for the two nations in 2023.
More information is likely to follow soon.
