This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is shaking up the voting system. No, the national parliaments won’t be able to get a veto over certain acts (David Cameron doesn’t appear to have won that concession in his renegotiations), but changes are being made to how results are announced in an attempt to make the contest seem less predictable, and therefore more exciting.
The organisers have announced that they are splitting the jury and public votes, and lumping together the public votes when they announce them. In essence, the new system should ensure the winner isn’t obvious until as late into the show as possible – so hopefully the final douze points will send one entrant hurtling up the leaderboard into a surprise first place.
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