The Romanian jury’s vote in favor of Moldova was “replaced” on Saturday at Eurovision by a “substitute calculated in a non-transparent manner”, Romanian public television TVR said on Sunday. “We were unpleasantly surprised to find that the vote did not count towards the final standings, with the organizers awarding another round of ratings to the contestants in the final,” TVR wrote in a statement. “We specify that the Romanian jury has decided to award the maximum score to the representatives of Moldova,” she explained.
Romania’s 12 points awarded to Ukraine
On Saturday night, that country’s 12 points went not to Moldova but to Ukraine, who won the competition. Romania also regretted that “the rules were changed during the game”, its presenter not having been “authorized” to intervene live like the majority of other countries to communicate the vote of the jury of his country. Depending on the response that will be provided by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organizing body of Eurovision, it reserves the right “to take measures to correct the situation”.
During Eurovision, the jurors of each country distribute points to the different countries and the viewers vote by telephone. On the night of Saturday to Sunday, the EBU pointed to “certain irregular voting patterns identified in the results of six countries” during the second semi-final and the final. It did not specify which States were concerned or whether these irregularities could have consequences on the final classification.
The organizers take seriously “any attempt to manipulate the vote”
“The EBU takes any alleged attempt to manipulate the Eurovision Song Contest vote very seriously,” she said in a statement. Ukraine won the competition in Italy ahead of the United Kingdom and Spain, thanks to the vote of television viewers who voted for the group representing the country invaded by Russian troops.
On Sunday, Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko regretted that the kyiv jury did not award any points to Poland and Lithuania, two important supporters against Moscow. “Such an assessment does not reflect our true attitude towards you, our closest friends in Europe. It’s a shame to give Poland and Lithuania 0 points. The Ukrainians give you 12 points!” he assured on Facebook.