RTVE Calls for Eurovision Televote Review

Spain’s national broadcaster RTVE has formally requested that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) open a discussion on the future of Eurovision’s televoting system. The move follows Israel’s strong public vote performance at the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, despite receiving significantly fewer points from professional juries.

Israel’s entrant, Yuval Raphael, finished second overall with New Day Will Rise, after receiving 297 points from the public televote—by far the highest of the night—against just 60 jury points. This discrepancy has raised concerns among several broadcasters, with RTVE now leading calls for a review of how the current system may be influenced by factors beyond the musical content of the entries.

Voting probe

In particular, RTVE is asking the EBU to disclose how votes were distributed within Spain. According to official figures, Spanish viewers cast 7,283 telephone votes, sent 23,840 SMS messages, and registered 111,565 online votes during the Grand Final. Israel received the maximum 12 points from the Spanish televote.

Since 2004, the European Broadcasting Union has worked with a third party company to handle the voting of the Eurovision Song Contest, using a special pan-European response platform managed by Once Germany GmbH to handle millions of incoming votes that people at home cast by phone and/or SMS.

Spain’s concern is that political sympathies—especially in times of armed conflict—may be impacting the neutrality of public voting. In its official statement, RTVE questioned whether the “cultural spirit” of the contest is at risk when the voting is seen to be driven by geopolitics rather than musical merit.

The broadcaster’s concerns were echoed by other unnamed EBU member broadcasters, who also expressed interest in reassessing how the televote is structured and whether safeguards should be implemented to protect the contest’s non-political framework.

Tensions

The controversy reflects broader tensions surrounding this year’s contest, with several participating nations facing scrutiny for their political affiliations, conflicts, and domestic policies. While the EBU maintains that Eurovision is a non-political event, the ongoing war in Gaza and shifting European allegiances have made such neutrality increasingly difficult to enforce.

This initiative has garnered attention from other participating countries, indicating a broader concern over the current voting framework’s susceptibility to non-musical factors.

As of today, there has been no formal response from the EBU regarding RTVE’s request for a debate, though the issue is expected to be raised at future reference group meetings. Whether this will lead to structural changes in the televoting process remains to be seen.