The EBU broke its silence regarding why four countries voted with only six jurors at Eurovision 2026.
Drama behind the scenes of Eurovision 2026. Shortly after the grand final of the contest, the official voting breakdown had already revealed that several countries awarded points with an incomplete jury panel. Last Tuesday, the EBU broke its silence and finally revealed the official reason behind this. Following the disclosure, the question marks are only growing: Is the new rule, which raised the number of jurors in each country from five to seven, simply too much for some countries to handle? And how does the EBU intend to deal with jurors who cancel their arrival at the last minute?
Four Countries with Six Jurors: How the New Rule Affected the Final Vote
According to the data revealed by the EBU, four countries stepped up to judge with an incomplete jury lineup this year. As far as it is known, no disqualifications or suspicious voting patterns occurred this year within the voting of the juries, but the jury panels of Czechia, Cyprus, Malta, and Luxembourg were not full and contained six jurors instead of seven. Czechia, Cyprus, and Malta judged with an incomplete lineup in both the second semi-final and the grand final. In contrast, Luxembourg judged with a full lineup in the second semi-final, but in the final, the votes of only six jurors were counted.
In a statement to the Portuguese Eurovision website, escportugal, the EBU clarified the meaning behind the shortage. According to the contest rules for Eurovision 2026, national broadcasters must appoint seven jurors, without backup jurors. This means that a juror who could not judge for any reason whatsoever was not replaced, and the country judged with an incomplete lineup. The EBU explained:
“This year, the juries were expanded to include seven members and the stations did not have to appoint alternate jurors. For example, in Czechia, one of the jurors was unable to appear at the last minute, so the Czech jury came forward with six jurors. If a juror cannot attend, he will not be replaced”.
The Changes Made to the Jury Lineup Ahead of Eurovision 2026
Ahead of Eurovision 2026, the jury teams were expanded to include seven jurors instead of five. The fields of expertise of the jurors were expanded to a variety of additional professions such as teachers, directors, choreographers, and music journalists. It was decided that at least two jurors from each country must be between the ages of 18 and 25 in order to ensure representation of the younger generation on the voting panels. Each juror signed a declaration of non-collusion and neutrality, and was banned from revealing their opinion on the songs on social media until the end of the contest.
Did the new rule to raise the number of jurors to seven truly set a bar too high for some countries? On one hand, the decision not to appoint backup jurors led to four countries voting with an incomplete lineup. But on the other hand, even with only six jurors, it is a broader and more diverse representation than the five jurors that were customary in the past.
However, this situation opens the door to an intriguing question: In a voting system where every voice affects the final ranking, the relative weight of each juror in those countries increased slightly. Would the presence of a seventh juror in Czechia, Cyprus, Malta, or Luxembourg have changed their distribution of points? And could such a small change have had an impact on the final picture at the top of the leaderboard for Eurovision 2026? That is something that will never be known. Now, it remains to be seen whether ahead of Eurovision 2027 the EBU will decide to bring back backup jurors to ensure a full lineup of seven jurors at all costs, and what other changes lie ahead.
Eurovision Song Contest 2026 was held in Vienna, Austria, following the country’s victory at Eurovision 2025 with the song “Wasted Love” performed by JJ. The competition took place at the Wiener Stadthalle, the largest indoor arena in Austria, with the semi-finals held on May 12th and 14th, and the Grand Final on May 16th. This marked the third time that Vienna hosted the contest, having previously hosted the event in 1967 and 2015.
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Ilay Gaist is a leading Israeli content creator and writer specializing in the Eurovision Song Contest. He is a well-known commentator with extensive expertise in the contest’s history, rules, and dynamics. His passion for Eurovision drives him to deliver rich, professional, and innovative content to his audience.
Ilay holds a bachelor’s degree in Arabic and has a multilingual background. He also engages in cultural research, with a particular focus on global culinary traditions and the evolution of local cuisines around the world.
