World News for Students of English

18-05-2026 15:00

The Eurovision Song Contest has introduced new voting regulations for a fairer competition. This decision follows concerns raised by several broadcasters about disproportionate promotion campaigns.

Last year, Israel received an unusually high number of public votes and finished in second place overall. Therefore, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has reduced the maximum number of votes a single person can cast from 20 to 10. Also, the competition has reinstated professional juries for the semi-finals. The final score is now a 50/50 split between professional juries and the public vote. This balance is intended to combine professional musical opinions with general popularity.

The EBU also issued a formal warning to the Israeli broadcaster after an artist encouraged fans to use all 10 votes for one country, which goes against the spirit of the contest. An independent body will monitor the system to prevent cheating and maintain the fairness of the results.

Difficult words: disproportionate (too large or too small in comparison to something else), reinstate (to put something back into use), body (an official group of people or an organization that does a specific job).

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