The Flemish TV company VRT was the first to demand an investigation into the voting in the Eurovision Song Contest, where Israel's second place has stirred up emotions due to the situation in Gaza. VRT wanted "full transparency" regarding the rules - which Spain also demanded. Now more are joining the chorus: TV companies in Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland and Finland are also demanding an investigation, writes BBC.
Israel received twelve points, i.e. full score, from the Belgian, Spanish and Swedish people, but zero points from the countries' juries, which has raised questions about whether the voting would be manipulated.
Full access
According to a spokesperson for the Flemish public service company VRT, there are no indications of cheating, but they still want full access to EBU's handling.
"The question is primarily whether the current system guarantees a fair reflection of the viewers' and listeners' opinions", says the spokesperson.
The Flemish parliamentarian Katia Segers said that: "a system where everyone can cast up to 20 votes is a system that encourages manipulation".
"Most advanced"
EBU will now have a "broad discussion" with the TV companies, confirms EBU's chief Martin Green. At the same time, he emphasizes that the voting procedure for the Eurovision Song Contest "is the most advanced in the world", where each country is controlled so that no suspicious or irregular voting patterns arise.
It has also emerged that Israel's Eurovision video appears in paid ads, bought by the state advertising agency Israeli Government Advertising Agency (IGAA). According to Martin Green, it does not violate any rules.
