Biggest Change to Eurovision Song Contest Voting Rules

19:52     18 February, 2016

New rules have been announced for the Eurovision Song Contest in the biggest change to voting since 1975, BBC reports.

In previous years each country's jury and public votes were combined and announced in one go. Now the votes will be split with each country's jury vote cast first, and votes from viewers in all countries combined and announced at the end.

Organisers say this will create a "dramatic finish" as the winner will be only be revealed at the very end.

In previous years the winner has been known for up to 20 minutes before the end of voting.

"This format change will inject a new level of excitement into the finish of the Eurovision Song Contest," said Martin Österdahl, Executive Producer for this year's show.

The new voting format means that the song which is most popular among the public will receive 12 points regardless of how the juries voted.


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