After the public debate about bloc voting – neighbors voting for each other and the influence of diaspora, EBU decided to bring back the juries in the Eurovision voting procedure.
Two weeks ago EBU confirmed that the juries will take part at the Eurovision voting in 2009!
The new voting procedure will include a combination of 50% jury and 50% televoting.
Jury in each participating country will comprise of 5 independent local music professionals with a background in radio, television, composition or music production.
EBU has announced that the juries must contain both men and women with “reasonable range of ages”.
They will vote in the same way as it’s traditional for the Eurovision Song contest, giving 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 scores and the scores will be added to the televoting results comprising national votes.
In case of a tie, televote score will have bigger value.
However, this change will apply only in the Finals and voting in the semi finals will still comprise of televoting only.