The Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle plans to discuss the Eurovision voting method with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), according to Juha Lahti, head of Yle’s Entertainment department.

The practice of public voting in the Eurovision final has sparked widespread debate since last weekend’s Grand Final due to concerns over the fact that a single voter could cast up to twenty votes, raising questions about the fairness of the voting process.

"We will definitely ask the EBU whether it is time to update these rules or at least examine whether the current rules allow for abuses," Lahti said, adding that the nature of the voting method has been under scrutiny in Finland for some time.

The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is organised by the EBU, of which Yle is a member. The EBU is responsible for determining the voting system.

Reports have emerged that, ahead of the ESC finale, Israel launched an online campaign with videos featuring their representative, Yuval Raphael, encouraging viewers in multiple languages to cast up to twenty votes for Israel.

Israel received the most public votes in the final with 297, while eventual winner Austria came fourth with 178. From Finland, the highest number of public votes went to Sweden, with Israel receiving the second highest.

Public vs jury votes

Juha Lahti also believes the balance between jury and public votes should be reconsidered. Currently, the two separate ways of voting are weighted equally.

Finland has already initiated informal talks with the EBU about giving more weight to public votes, but no official discussions have yet taken place.

"Everyone probably remembers Käärijä’s situation [in 2023]. If the public votes had been weighted more heavily then, Finland would already have hosted Eurovision," he said.

However, if the weights were to be adjusted, the practice of public voting would become even more significant than they are now.

"Especially if we are moving towards giving public votes more weight, it should seriously be considered whether it makes sense for one person to be able to vote twenty times," Lahti said.

Yle: No plans to raise Israel’s participation as an issue

Before the contest, hundreds of people, including Finnish artists, signed petitions and open letters calling on the EBU to ban Israel from participating in this year's Eurovision.

The signatories demanded that the EBU remove Israel due to the "genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the decades-long regime of apartheid and military occupation against the entire Palestinian people".

Protestors have also demanded that Yle withdraw from ESC due to Israel's participation.

However, according to Lahti, Yle currently has no intention of raising Israel’s participation as an issue with the EBU. He said that decisions related to Eurovision will be made in the autumn.

"We have no plans to do this. Now we'll do the normal post-Eurovision debriefing and then start planning for Finland's Contest for New Music UMK," Lahti said.

A recent episode of the All Points North podcast traced Finland's ESC revival when two Finnish acts took the stage in Basel.