The Eurovision Song Contest is underway in Vienna, Austria, with 25 countries competing in tonight’s grand final.
Eurovision is widely known for its fiendishly complex voting system, and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has made some tweaks in recent years following various controversies.
Follow live updates from the 2026 Eurovision final here.
How does Eurovision voting work?
Viewers from all participating countries will be invited to vote for their favourite songs as the grand final gets underway.
As usual, you can vote for any country’s act from the one representing the nation you’re casting your vote from (for instance, if you are currently in France, you would not be able to vote for France).
For the first time, fans in the UK will only be able to vote online this year via the EBU’s central website, esc.vote.
The number of votes each person is allowed to cast has been slashed in half too. For 2026, viewers can only cast 10 votes per payment method (some other countries still allow text and phone voting).
The public votes make up 50 per cent of the total vote, with the other half determined by a professional jury in each participating country.
The experts’ scores are based on the Friday night jury final performances, which are not usually televised.
After viewers have cast their votes, a national spokesperson from the participating countries will be called in to present the points of their professional jury. The highest number of points any country can give is “douze points” (or 12 points).
After the presentation of the scores from the juries, the public points from all participating countries will be combined, providing one final score for each song.
What has changed for 2026?
The EBU has made a number of changes to the voting system as part of its annual review of the process.
As well as halving the number of votes each fan can make, they’ve brought in rules that will affect both the competing broadcasters and each nation’s jury.
After reports claiming an Israeli government-backed campaign was used to boost votes for its 2025 entry Yuval Raphael – who won the public vote – the EBU has introduced new guidelines that “discourage disproportionate promotion campaigns…particularly when undertaken or supported by third parties, including governments or governmental agencies”.
Its website adds: “Participating broadcasters and artists are not permitted to actively engage in, facilitate or contribute to promotional campaigns by third parties that could influence the voting outcome and, as outlined in the updated Code of Conduct, any attempts to unduly influence the results will lead to sanctions.”
The EBU has also broadened the juries, so each one will be made up of seven jurors (versus five in years prior). The range of professional backgrounds for jurors has also been expanded, and they can now include music journalists and music teachers, as well as creative professionals including choreographers and stage directors.
To reflect the contest’s appeal with younger audiences, each jury must feature two people aged between 18 and 25.
Finally, the EBU has stepped up technical safeguarding to stop any “fraudulent or coordinated voting activity”.
Martin Green, the director of the Eurovision Song Contest, said: “These measures are designed to keep the focus where it belongs – on music, creativity and connection.
“While we are confident the 2025 Contest delivered a valid and robust result, these changes will help provide stronger safeguards and increase engagement so fans can be sure that every vote counts and every voice is heard.”
Who are the favourites to win?
There are some clear frontrunners in this year’s contest but, as any self-respecting Eurovision fan will know, that can all change in a heartbeat. The current favourites are Finnish duo Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen, Greece’s Akylas and Delta Goodrem, who is representing Australia.