Eurovision Voting

Posted by Italo on May 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment

How the voting procedure of the Eurovision Song Contest works:

In the Semi-Finals

After all songs have been performed, viewers in the countries that are represented in that particular Semi-Final* can vote by making a phone call and/or sending an SMS for their favorite song(s). You are allowed to vote up to 20 times, but you cannot vote for your own country
Each country then gives 12 points to the most popular entry, 10 points to the second most popular, then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points
In each Semi-Final, the nine countries with the highest number of points qualify for the Final
Professional juries in all countries that are represented in that particular Semi-Final vote as well. Just like the televoters, each jury in each country then gives 12 points to the most popular entry, 10 points to the second most popular, then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points
In each Semi-Final, the highest ranked country in the jury voting results that didn’t qualify through televoting yet, also qualifies for the Final
The TV hosts will announce the ten qualified countries at the end of each Semi-Final in random order
To keep tension high, Eurovision.tv reveals the actual score boards of the Semi-Finals online after the Final

* The countries that are automatically qualified to compete
in the Final will each vote in one of the Semi-Finals.
By draw it was decided that in the first Semi-Final
United Kingdom and Germany will also vote.
In the second Semi-Final Spain, Russia and France will vote.

In the Final

After all songs have been performed, viewers in all 42 participating countries can vote by making a phone call and/or sending an SMS for their favorite song(s). You are allowed to vote up to 20 times, but you cannot vote for your own country
Each country then gives 12 points to the most popular entry, 10 points to the second most popular, then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points
Professional juries in all 42 countries vote as well. Just like the televoters, each jury in each country then gives 12 points to the most popular entry, 10 points to the second most popular, then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points
The televoting results and the jury results are then merged per country. Each result counts for 50%
Spokespersons in all 42 countries will read out the merged results, giving 12 points to the most popular entry, 10 points to the second most popular, then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points
The country with the highest number of points wins the 54th Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Voting
Source: eurovision.tv