Romanian public television (TVR) assures us: the vote of the Romanian jury during Eurovision has been “replaced”. In a statement released on May 15, she said the 12 points that were to be awarded to Moldova ultimately went to Ukraine, who won the competition.
“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 competitors in the final,” TVR wrote in its statement.
Specifying that “the Romanian jury has decided to award the maximum score to the representatives of Moldova”, the organization assured that this choice has been replaced by a “substitute calculated in a non-transparent manner”.
At the same time, Romania also regretted that “the rules were changed during the game”. It is a question here of the Romanian presenter, who was not “authorized” to intervene live like the majority of other countries to communicate the vote of the national jury.
“Irregular voting patterns”
During the ceremony, viewers vote by telephone, before the jurors from each country announce the points awarded to the candidates. But, overnight from Saturday to Sunday, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organizing body, pointed to “certain irregular voting patterns identified in the results of six countries” during the second semi-final and of the final.
The EBU has not yet specified which countries are concerned and it is not known whether these irregularities could have consequences on the final classification. However, the organization stressed that it takes “very seriously any alleged attempt to manipulate the vote in the Eurovision Song Contest”.
For its part, Romania has lodged a complaint with the EBU and is awaiting an adequate response from it. TVR said it reserves the right “to take steps to correct the situation”.