Björkman and SVT change Melodifestivalen voting system after criticism

Christer Björkman EBU SVT Eurovision

The 2018 Melodifestivalen will see a changed voting system in which the audience has more influence. Thus reports Aftonbladet today. Last year, the winner of the App Vote, Nano, lost the Grand Final to the winner of the Jury Vote, Robin Bengtsson.

“When we decided to have twelve finalists, the voice of the people became more widely spread while the International Jury’s score was only divided into seven songs, thus becoming a higher concentration of high scores on the songs that collected them,” said Christer Björkman.

In the new system, the International Jury will give out more points. They are forced to vote for 10 songs instead of 7. In return, the people in the App Vote will be able to give out 638 points instead of 473.

Nano not the first Melodifestivalen people’s champion

In 2005, 2008, 2013 and 2017, the winner of the public vote did not win Melodifestivalen. 2005 saw Martin Stenmarck overturn Nanne Grönvall. In 2008, Charlotte Perelli’s “Hero” beat out Sanna Nielsen’s “Empty room” because of the jury vote. And in 2013, Yohio won the public vote but lost to jury favorite Robin Stjernberg.

Melodifestivalen songs and acts for 2018 already known

Earlier in this Eurovision season, the acts and song titles for Melodifestivalen 2018 were already revealed by broadcaster SVT. Melodifestivalen 2018 will have a line-up with many new artists, taking the big stage for the first time. Broadcaster SVT released the names of the 28 participating acts this Tuesday morning, with Kikki Danielsson and Jessica Andersson as the only names that ever went to Eurovision before. The starting order for the four semi finals has also been announced already.

1 Comment

  1. In all examples I think none of the public voted songs would have done better in eurovision than the jury vote. Public vote generally benefits local favourites more than the best acts/songs. Public vote is a popularity vote not a quality vote. It’s good to have some public influence though not too much. I ferris the day Christer aims to be in the lead of Eurovision and ruined that concept as well.

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