National juries will be making a return for the selection of tomorrow's Eurovision Song Contest winner after an absence of 12 years in an effort to end 'political' voting between East and West.
The final will see half of the points allocated by televoting and half by the juries in the participating countries.
“A jury is more likely to appreciate a good song and better voices than voters, who may be more inclined to vote for a performance,” Munro Forbes, the Malta entry producer said. This new format had worked well in the last Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which had been used as a sounding board, he added.
According to the contest’s executive supervisor, Svante Stockselius, nothing was more democratic than the vote of the public, but a jury took the opportunity to listen to the songs several times before they made up their minds.
The division between East and West has long been felt in Eurovision and when Russia’s heartthrob Dima Bilan won last year, several countries began to wonder whether the West should continue taking part.
Two separate contests for Eastern and Western countries were proposed but this idea was shot down by the European Broadcasting Union, which felt there was enough division in Europe. Instead, in a bid to address the matter, the jury was reintroduced.
At a press conference yesterday, Mr Stockselius reiterated that the reason for a jury was that in past years, back-up juries and televoters disagreed about the results and this move was intended to reduce the effect of so-called diaspora voting.
The juries will be “professionals”, comprising music industry experts rather than members of the public.
Reflecting on the outcome of Tuesday’s semi-final, Mr Stockselius said were it not for the wildcard rule, one of the songs would not have been among the public’s top 10 – the song was “saved” by the jury.
This system – where televoters choose the first nine countries and a jury selects its favourite – was used again last night during the second semi-final and the countries will be revealed after tomorrow’s final.
The 10 finalists chosen from the two semi-finals will this afternoon join the Big Four – the UK, Spain, Germany and France – and last year’s winner Russia, in the first of three dress rehearsals before the big night.
Mr Forbes said he was encouraged by the audience’s reaction towards Chiara in the arena on Tuesday and overall he was happy with the look.
Was he confident Chiara would place among the top 10?
“If I had a crystal ball I’d be able to tell you... and I’d also be a billionaire. Chiara has been very popular twice before and there’s no reason to believe her popularity has waned,” he said.