As expected by the bookmakers, Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. That Kalush Orchestra was especially popular with viewers. In a public vote, Ukraine, which had been under Russian aggression for many weeks, received 439 points. A total of 631 points was enough for first place ahead of Great Britain (466 points), Spain (459), Sweden (438) and Serbia (312). Hosts Italy finished sixth with 268 points.
Germany’s candidate Malik Harris was the only participant to receive zero points from the national juries. Even after the public vote, in which he received six points, he remained in last place. Switzerland (17th place) received zero points from the audience. After voting by the national juries, Great Britain was still in first place.
Possible manipulations in the semifinals?
The organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin also announced that they would investigate possible manipulations in the second semi-final. Irregularities in the jury vote were found in six countries, the European Broadcasting Union EBU announced on Sunday night. Country names were initially not mentioned. Instead, an average value was formed in the affected countries from the points of other countries that had voted similarly. Details were not given.
“The EBU takes all suspected attempts to rig voting at the Eurovision Song Contest extremely seriously,” it said in a statement. The second semi-final on Thursday saw another ten countries qualify for Saturday’s finals: Finland, Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Estonia, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia and Australia.