Eurovision Song Contest set for major shakeup with changes to voting process

The Eurovision Song Contest has announced major changes to its voting system in the wake of revelations that several countries traded votes at this year's final in Turin, Italy.

Bosses have scrapped professional juries from the semi-finals, which means viewers will have the only say in who qualifies for the grand final.

Countries not competing will also be allowed to vote for the first time, reports the BBC.

READ MORE: Eurovision Song Contest confirms Liverpool as host city for May 2023 show

Up until now, juries comprising of professional songwriters and figures from the industry have seen their scores combined with the results of a public vote to determine an overall winner.

However, those days are over after irregular voting patterns were detected in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and San Marino this year, said contest organisers.

Those votes were subsequently discounted, and substituted with an aggregate score, calculated by means of results of other countries with similar voting records.

The new process will not apply to the final however, with jury votes and public votes still counted together, as the contest heads to Liverpool in 2023 following the UK's Sam Ryder second-placed finish behind war-torn Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra.

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TV presenter Nikki Chapman, who has previously been involved with the UK jury, told the Beeb: "There'll be lots of people breathing a sigh of relief, because real Eurovision fans are online months and months in advance. They know every single song, and they'll have their favourites.

"So when Ireland gets knocked out, for example, so many people are disappointed. This [change] gives everybody the chance to put their favourite through and, when it comes to the final, the juries will have 50% of the votes."

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