Eurovision Song Contest organisers issued a lengthy statement about 'certain irregular voting patterns' that had been spotted in the results of six countries during Saturday night's final.
During the 66th contest, which saw Ukraine's act Kalush Orchestra take the crown, votes from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and San Marino were all replaced by aggregate scores, after the unusual patterns were noticed on the night, reports the Mirror.
Acknowledging the controversary, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) issued a full statement. "In the analysis of jury voting by the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) pan-European voting partner after the Second Dress Rehearsal of the Second Semi-Final of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, certain irregular voting patterns were identified in the results of six countries," the EBU began in their address.
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"In order to comply with the Contest’s Voting Instructions, the EBU worked with its voting partner to calculate a substitute aggregated result for each country concerned for both the Second-Semi Final and the Grand Final (calculated based on the results of other countries with similar voting records). This process was acknowledged by the Independent Voting Monitor."
They added: "The EBU takes any suspected attempts to manipulate the voting at the Eurovision Song Contest extremely seriously and has the right to remove such votes in accordance with the Official Voting Instructions, irrespective of whether or not such votes are likely to influence the results and/or outcome of the voting."
The drama follows the UK's 2022 contestant Sam Ryder winning the evening's jury vote with 283 points - the highest jury score since 2017. The TikTok sensation came in second place with his tune Space Man, marking the first time in 20 years that the UK has ended the night in the top three.
"There is so much gratitude, what an experience," Sam gushed after learning he had beat favourites Spain and Sweden in the jury vote.
