Are votes for Eurovision 2025 'rigged'? Here's why countries are asking for audits

The Israel-Hamas war has caused distress and loss not only to the countries and their citizens but also to the lives and careers of people. In 2024, singer Eden Golan represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. However, the country's participation was called out for bans by human rights activists and countries to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) due to Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip. Additionally, Golan's performance during the entire contest was met with booing.Now, in 2025, singer Yuval Raphael, who is also a survivor of the attacks that took place in the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, is representing the country at the song contest. While Raphael's participation as well was met with backlash and a petition signed by former Eurovision contestants demanding a ban on Israel's participation, the singer, on the contrary, has been topping the voting charts.On Saturday, Raphael topped the viewer vote with her song 'New Day Will Rise' but finished second to Austria once the jury scores were also taken into account. After this revelation, broadcasters of the contest in Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Iceland and Finland have raised concerns and questions about the public vote, with some even asking for audits.The EBU dismissed any allegations of voter fraud in the contest but noted that it had received a number of such queries and that it "takes their concerns seriously"In a written statement, Eurovision director Martin Green emphasised "that the voting operation for the Eurovision Song Contest is the most advanced in the world and each country’s result is checked and verified by a huge team of people to exclude any suspicious or irregular voting patterns. An independent compliance monitor reviews both jury and public vote data to ensure we have a valid result.”Green also quoted the contest's voting partner Once, writing that it had confirmed that a "valid vote" was recorded in all countries participating in this year's Grand Final and in the Rest of the World."While the contest has concluded with Austria's JJ winning for her song 'Wasted Love', Green has shared that he will be having a broad discussion with participating broadcasters to get feedback on all aspects of this year's event as part of the planning process for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in 2026.