Eurovision Song Contest overhauls voting rules

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

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.

Mans Zelmerlow won the Eurovison Song Contest last year for Sweden and will host this year's ceremony

The new voting system is a "big step forward", according to Jon Ola Sand, executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, that will "make a better television show as well as a more exciting competition".
He added: "It is fitting that this change to the contest's iconic scoring sequence will be debuted in Stockholm, where the famous douze points system was introduced in 1975."

The same voting system will be used in the semi-finals.
For those wanting to know how their country has voted, the tele-voting and jury scores from each participating country will be available after the show on the official Eurovision website.

The grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Stockholm on Saturday 14 May.

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