The Eurovision Song Contest is underway in Basel, Switzerland, as protests take place against Israel’s participation in the competition amid its war on Gaza.
The 2025 Grand Final will be held tonight, Saturday (17 May).
Eurovision is widely known for its fiendishly complex voting system, with the European Broadcasting Union making some tweaks last year.
How does Eurovision voting work?
Viewers from all participating countries will be invited to vote for their favourite songs as the grand final gets underway.
Fans can vote over the phone, by text or via the Eurovision app. Each person can vote up to 20 times, but voters will be unable to select their own country’s entry.
The public votes make up 50 per cent of the total vote, with the other half determined by a professional jury in each participating country.
The experts’ scores are based on the Friday night jury final performances, which are not usually televised.
After viewers have cast their votes, a national spokesperson from the participating countries will be called in to present the points of their professional jury. The highest number of points any country can give is “douze points” (or 12 points).
After the presentation of the scores from the juries, the public points from all participating countries will be combined, providing one final score for each song.
What has changed for 2025?
As of 2024, viewers watching around the world can now vote for their favourite songs for 24 hours before each Semi-Final and the Grand Final.
You can only vote in the Semi-Final your country takes part in, or the Semi-Final assigned to your country if you’re watching from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom or Switzerland.
The change was initially introduced last year, with people from countries outside the contest being allowed to vote online and on the app for both the semi-finals and final.
Their votes will be converted into points that have the same weight as one participating country.
Other changes this year see voting at the Grand Final open just before the first song begins, and will remain open throughout the performances and for up to 40 minutes after the final song is performed.
Who are the favourites to win?
There are some clear frontrunners in this year’s contest but, as any self-respecting Eurovision fan will know, that can all change in a heartbeat. The current favourites include Sweden’s KAJ, the comedy music trio singing “Bara Bada Bastu”, and Austria’s JJ.
