Mid-July 2023 word came out that the Norwegian Head of Delegation, Stig Karlsen, wants to propose a new voting system. In this system the professional juries count for less than the public votes.
Norway wants to propose new voting system
The country of Norway wants to propose a new voting system, said Stig Karlsen, Head of Delegation of Norway. The country will propose the new system to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The plan is to push back the worth of the professional juries in favour of the public vote. According to the Norwegian Head of Delegation the popularity of the contest will decline when the professional juries have the same say as the jury vote.
According to Karlsen the national professional jury vote should be pushed back to 40% or 30%, instead of the 50% that it is now. Karlsen does admit to not fully cancelling the professional juries, because of the excitement of the show, but also to reduce the possibility of bloc voting.
The reason for the possible change
The reason for the possible change is because of the outcome of the 2023 contest in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Swedish Loreen won the contest with the song “Tattoo”, but according to the jury vote Finland’s Käärijää was the clear winner with the song “Cha Cha Cha”. Sweden won because Loreen got the majority of the votes of the national juries, but failed to get the well-known “twelve points” from any of the public votes.
In case the changes fall through…
In case the changes fall through it will not be because of Norway’s proposal, but because the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group voted in favour of the changes. If there are changes in the rules, these will be made public in January of 2024.
EUROVISION 2023
This year’s contest is won by Sweden’s Loreen with the song “Tattoo”. Loreen’s win marks the first time a female singer has won the Eurovision Song Contest twice, since Loreen also won the 2012 song contest with the song “Euphoria”, which is one of the most successful songs in Eurovision history. Next to this, Loreen is the second singer to win the contest twice; Irish Johnny Logan came before her.