Yuval Raphael was Israel’s contestant for Eurovision 2025.
The EBU announced this Friday that the competition’s voting rules will be tightened, to limit the influence of governments in the public vote that helps decide the winner.
The Eurovision Song Contest will have new voting rulesnamely a reduction in the number of public votes and the return of judges in the semi-finals, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced this Friday.
In , the EBU states that “important updates were made to the Eurovision Song Contest voting framework, to reinforce the trust, transparency and public involvement” in the event.
The changes arise following a broad consultation process to the members of the UER, including RTP, after , explains the organization.
For the 2026 edition, the maximum number of votes possible for each viewer, made online, by SMS or telephone call, is reduced from twenty to ten.
The festival semi-finals become professional juries againwhich has not happened since 2022, and in both the semi-finals and the final a distribution of “approximately 50/50 between jury and public votes”.
Os juries now comprise seven elements (previously there were five), they must represent a “variety of professional experiences” linked to music and the arts and have to sign a impartiality commitment.
“Each jury will include at least two jurors between 18 and 25 years old”, says the UER.
In the statement, the UER also emphasizes that the television stations and participating artists “are not allowed to actively participateto facilitate or contribute to third-party promotional campaigns that could influence the outcome of the vote. Any attempt to unduly influence the results will be sanctioned.”
These measures are announced after they have several controversies arose about the voting system, notably involving Israel.
The winner of the Festival is chosen based on two scores: points awarded by national juries made up of music industry professionals and points awarded by viewers.
In the 2025 edition, Israel’s song was poorly classified in the jury’s vote, which awarded it only 60 points (0 from the Portuguese jury). In the public vote, 13 countries, including Portugal, gave 12 points to the Israeli representationwhich totaled 297 points.
Israeli music ended up being the most voted by the publichaving stayed in 2nd place in combined score with the jury’s vote, with a total of 357 points, and remained ahead of the classification practically until the end of the voting.
Before the final, the Israeli government launched a campaign to encourage votes in Yuval Raphaelsurvivor of those of October 2023, remembers the . The Israeli government published appeals on social media and the Government Advertising Agency purchased YouTube ads encouraging people to vote.
Some European countries, including Slovenia, Spain, Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands, have made public in recent months that the 2026 edition, which will take place in Vienna, Israel case participate in the contest. Belgium, Sweden and Finland revealed that they are also thinking about participating in the festival.
In the Netherlands, the public broadcasting association Avrotros accused Israel of having committed “proven interference during the last editiongetting involved in political manipulation of the event”, in reference to the second position obtained by the Israeli singer Yuval Raphael, through telephone voting, in this year’s edition of the competition.
Avrotros also justified the decision citing the “serious violations of press freedom” committed by Israel in Gaza.
The boycotts are due to Israeli military attacks in the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, in the last two years, classified as genocide by an independent international commission of investigation of the United Nations.
On Tuesday, the general director of the Austrian public broadcasting station ORF, Roland Weissmannsaid that “The time for diplomacy has come” so that the Eurovision Song Contest can be held in 2026, and which awaits a commitment, in December, on , so that Austria can welcome “the largest possible number of participants”.
The European Broadcasting Union will make a decision at its winter ordinary general meeting, scheduled for December 4th and 5th. The final of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled for May 16th, preceded by two semi-finals on the 12th and 14th of that month.
The competition has been held annually since 1956 and there have already been excluded countriesin the case of Belarus, in 2021, after the re-election of President Aleksandr Lukashenko, and of Russia, in 2022, after the invasion of Ukraine.
Israel was the first non-European country to be able to participatein 1973, and won the festival four times.
Portugal participated for the first time in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964, having since missed five editions (in 1970, 2000, 2002, 2013 and 2016). In 2017, Portugal held the contest, with the song “Amar aos Dois”, by Luísa Sobral, performed by Salvador Sobral.
