Martin Green CBE, the Eurovision director, has relased an open letter for the Eurovision fan community in the wake of the latest changes on the Eurovision Song Contest voting rules implemented by the EBU.
The EBU has announced today that it will be implementing a series of major changes to the Eurovision voting rules in order to strenghten trust and transparency.
Martin Greeen CBE’s letter to the Eurovision Song Contest:
When I wrote to you in May, I said that we would spend the summer looking at the issues raised by our participating broadcasters and fans following our 2025 Contest. Over the past months, that is exactly what we have done. I want to share with you how we’ve acted on the promises we made, shaped by feedback from our Members but also your concerns and your unwavering belief in what the Eurovision Song Contest stands for.
One of the clearest messages we received was the need to strengthen trust in the fairness of the Contest, to ensure it remains a neutral space for the celebration of music and its power to bring us together. In response, we undertook the most extensive review of our voting framework in recent years, consulting widely with Heads of Delegation and many Directors General from participating broadcasters. The result is a series of significant changes for 2026 that reinforce transparency, accountability and neutrality.
Firstly, we have strengthened the rules on song promotion to help protect the Contest against disproportionate, externally driven campaigns. While artists, broadcasters and record companies will, and should, always promote their songs as part of their professional work and engagement with fans, no broadcaster or artist may now directly engage with or support campaigns by third parties – including governments or their agencies – that could distort the vote. We also want to make it crystal clear that proven attempts to unduly influence results will not be tolerated and will be called out. This helps ensure the Eurovision Song Contest remains a space driven by artists, their music, and their fans.
We have reduced the maximum number of votes possible per payment method from 20 to 10. This is an important change which recognizes that, although the number of votes previously allowed did not unduly influence the results of previous Contests, there were concerns expressed by participating broadcasters and fans alike. The reduction is designed to encourage more balanced participation, and we will more actively encourage audiences who wish to use the maximum 10 votes allowed to, in the spirit of the competition, show support across several competing songs and artists.
Another important step we have taken is restoring professional juries to the Semi Finals for the first time since 2022, returning to a roughly 50/50 balance between jury and audience votes across all shows. We want to make sure that songs with artistic merit, strong musical foundations and creative ambition have a fair chance to reach the Grand Final alongside those with widespread public support. To help achieve this, we have expanded the range of professions from which jurors can be chosen – which now include music journalists, teachers, choreography and staging specialists, and experienced figures from across the music industry. In addition to widening this pool of expertise, each jury will now have 7 members rather than the previous 5, including at least two jurors aged 18-25, reflecting the Contest’s wide appeal to new generations. To protect the integrity of the competition, all jurors must sign a formal declaration confirming their commitment to vote independently, impartially and not to share their views publicly before the competition concludes.
Alongside these updates, we are enhancing our technical safeguards to protect the Contest from suspicious or coordinated voting activity. Working with our voting partner, Once, we will continue to strengthen the advanced security systems that monitor, detect and prevent fraudulent patterns. Trust in the integrity of the audience vote is vital, and these improvements add another layer of protection for fans, delegations and artists alike.
In May, I said that the Contest must always remain a joyful and unifying space – not because the world is simple, but because this event only works when it brings people together rather than divides them. We have therefore clarified expectations in our Code of Conduct, strengthened our internal review processes for songs, staging and artist profiles, and made accountability clearer for participating broadcasters. We will enforce our rules more consistently to prevent the Contest from being used as a political platform or instrument of any kind. The Eurovision Song Contest belongs to all of us, and it must remain a place where music takes centre stage.
As we look towards Vienna 2026 and the 70th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, we are reminded of how this extraordinary event has endured through decades of profound change. It has grown, adapted, welcomed new broadcasters and inspired millions across the world. But the heart of the Contest – creativity, joy, unity – has always remained constant.
I truly hope that this robust package of measures provides assurance for artists, broadcasters and fans alike. I hope that it respects and strengthens the values of the Contest. Above all I hope it allows for the Contest to acknowledge the sometimes-difficult world in which we live but resist attempts to turn our stage into a place of geopolitical division.
Governments do not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, artists do. Artists backed by public service broadcasters who are not responsible for the decisions and actions of their governments. Artists have always shown those who seek to divide us that a different world is possible. The Eurovision Song Contest will always be a platform for them to do that.
We are, and always will be, United by Music.
With gratitude and love,
Martin Green CBE
Director, Eurovision Song Contest
The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 12, 14 and 16 May at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria.
