SVT, the Swedish national broadcaster, have announced that Wiktoria will no longer be on their national jury for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest and she has been replaced by Lisa Ajax.
The reason for the change is that Wiktoria has previously appeared as a panelist on the TV programme, Inför Eurovision Song Contest. Anette Helenius, project manager of the Swedish Eurovision broadcast has said of the change:
There must be no doubt that one of the Swedish jurors may have been influenced by another juror. Therefore we have taken the decision to replace Wiktoria with Lisa Ajax.
Although Wiktoria’s appearance on the TV programme does not break EBU rules, the Swedish broadcaster wants to avoid speculation, Helenius explained.
Both Wiktoria and Lisa Ajax competed in the final of Melodifestivalen 2016, the Swedish national selection for Eurovision. Wiktoria finished in 4th place with her song Save me and Lisa Ajax came 7th with My heart wants me dead.
The eventual winner of Melodifestivalen 2016 was Frans, who is representing Sweden in Eurovision 2016 with his song If I were sorry.
