Poland: Jury vote added for Krajowe Eliminacje

Poland will use a 50% jury vote to determine its Eurovision act for 2017. Broadcaster TVP released this news alongside the rulebook for preselection Krajowe Eliminacje.

Last year, the Polish entry was picked by a 100% televote. This year, the entry will be selected by a 50% jury vote 50% televote. TVP have announced these changes due to a poor run of results recently. In the event of a tie, the entry who was top of the televote will win.

It is interesting to note that since Poland’s return to the contest in 2014, the professional jury has always awarded them significantly less points than the televoters. Perhaps TVP is hoping that having a professional jury in their national final might improve their luck. Check Poland’s exact jury-televote discrepancies at the bottom of this article!

Citizenship rule

Another main change being brought into Krajowe Eliminacje is that only Polish citizens can take part. Also Polish citizens who have submitted to other national finals will be excluded from participating in Poland. This rule change prevents situations such as last year when Belarus national final runner-up Napoli tried her luck in Poland as well.

This year, Napoli will be in the Belarus national final once again. Participation in the Polish national selection will therefore not be possible due to the new rule change. The band Napoli originate in Belarus, but the lead singer, and her family are from Poland.

Jury-Televote discrepancies

In the last 3 years, the juries at Eurovision have not been supportive towards Poland. In 2016 Michal Szpak only scored 7 points in the jury vote before finishing third in the televote with 222 points. This amazing televote score brought Poland into the top 10.

In 2015, Monika Kuszyńska finished in last place with the jury, scoring only 2 points. Monika received 47 points from the televotes. In 2014, Donatan & Cleo gained 23 points from the jury which cost them their place in the top 10. Televoters had awarded the song “Slavic Girls” 150 points.