Socialist party calls for investigation into Eurovision televoting system
Flemish socialist party Vooruit is calling on Flemish public broadcaster VRT to push for an investigation into the televoting system within the European Broadcasting Union, the organiser of the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Israeli contestant received 12 points from the Belgian public, while the expert jury gave none, raising questions about manipulation, the party says.
“A system where anyone can cast up to 20 votes is a system that encourages manipulation,” said Vooruit MP Katia Segers in a press release. “Whether such manipulation occurred in our country, and in all other countries, needs to be investigated. VRT should take the lead in asking for this investigation. And to lead the debate on the system of televoting within the EBU and on Israel's participation.”
“A system where anyone can cast up to 20 votes is a system that encourages manipulation"
Earlier it became known that the Spanish public broadcaster RTVE had called for an investigation into the results of the Spanish televoting. As in Belgium, viewers gave 12 points to the Israeli contestant while the expert jury gave none.
Israel finished second at the latest Eurovision Song Contest. The country's participation was controversial because of the serious violations of human rights and international law during Israel's war in the Gaza Strip.
Future participation
“We have no indications that the scoring was not correctly established, but we do ask for full transparency from the EBU,” VRT spokesperson Yasmine Van der Borght said. “The main question is whether the current voting system guarantees a fair reflection of viewers‘ and listeners’ opinions.”
"Without a serious answer to our concerns, we do question our future participation”
VRT also supports RTVE's call for a broad debate on Israel's participation and questions its future participation.
“We note as VRT that the Eurovision Song Contest as it is currently organised is less and less a unifying and apolitical event,” Van der Borght said. “It is increasingly at odds with the original standards and values of the event and with ours. Without a serious answer to our concerns, we do question our future participation.”
However, VRT cannot decide on participation in the next edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Next year it will be the turn of French-language broadcaster RTBF to participate for Belgium.
652,817 viewers watched the Eurovision Song Contest final on Saturday night via VRT, the lowest viewing figures in 13 years. The ratings are possibly due to Israel's controversial participation. 290,000 people watched the French-language broadcast on RTBF, a slight fall on the previous year.
#FlandersNewsService | Yuval Raphael, the Israeli contestant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 © PHOTO JENS BÜTTNER / DPA
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