Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Grand Final Extended Voting Analysis

Host country: United Kingdom (BBC)
Venue: Liverpool Arena, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Hosts: Alesha Dixon, Julia Sanina, Hannah Waddingham, Graham Norton
Date: Saturday 13 May 2023

My main Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Grand Final review, including the opening act, songs, interval acts, jury voting and announcement of the televoting results is available here. This supplement is intended to be read in addition to, and not instead of, that report.

N.B. Any use of “tonight” or “this evening” throughout this post means Saturday 13 May 2023. Any use of “Tuesday” means Tuesday 9 May 2023, whereas any reference to “Thursday” means Thursday 11 May 2023. Any use of “this year” means 2023, whereas “last year” means 2022 and “next year” means 2024. All times in this post are in BST.

To make this report easier to read, I've split it into sections. Click the applicable link below to jump to the section you want to read:
Winner and Top Marks
Country Groups
Points to United Kingdom
Alternative Voting Presentation
Conclusion

Winner and Top Marks

Points Levels to Winner

Jury Voting

Sweden, which won the jury vote, and was the overall winner, received points from all the other 36 countries in the jury vote. The 15 countries which awarded 12 jury points to Sweden were: Albania, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom. That alone amounted to 180 out of the 340 jury points which Sweden received. 8 countries gave 10 jury points to Sweden; those were Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Czechia, Latvia, Norway, Romania. The remaining 13 countries gave between 4 and 8 jury points to Sweden. Interestingly, no country gave Sweden less than 4 jury points.

The 2 countries which awarded 12 jury points to Finland (which finished fourth in the jury vote and second overall) were: Norway and Sweden. 20 other countries gave between 1 and 10 jury points to Finland. Amazingly, Finland received more points from 10-point scores than 12-point scores, and more points from 8-point scores than 10-point scores, in the jury voting. The 7 countries which awarded 8 jury points to Finland were: Armenia, Austria, Denmark, France, Ireland, Israel, Malta. That alone amounted to 56 out of the 150 jury points which Finland received. Interestingly, Finland received no 2-point, 4-point or 6-point scores in the jury voting. 14 countries (other than Finland itself) gave no jury points at all to Finland, those being Albania, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

The number of times Sweden and Finland received each particular points level (or no points at all) from the other juries is summarised in the following table:

Points level	Jury to Sweden	Sweden Pts	Jury to Finland	Finland Pts
0	0	0	14	0
1	0	0	2	2
2	0	0	0	0
3	0	0	3	9
4	2	8	0	0
5	2	10	3	15
6	3	18	0	0
7	4	28	2	14
8	2	16	7	56
10	8	80	3	30
12	15	180	2	24
TOTAL	36	340	36	150

Televoting

Sweden, which finished second with 243 points in the televote (but won the jury vote, and was the overall winner) received no 12 televote point scores. Nonetheless, 8 countries gave 10 televote points to Sweden; those were Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Estonia, Iceland, Malta, Norway. That alone amounted to 80 out of the 243 televote points which Sweden received. 28 other countries gave between 1 and 8 televote points to Sweden. Interestingly Sweden received at least one of each 1 to 10 points level on televoting. Finland was the only country (other than Sweden itself) which gave no televote points at all to Sweden.

Finland, which won the televote and finished second overall, received points from all the other 37 countries (including Rest of the World) on televoting. The 18 countries which awarded 12 televote points to Finland were: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, San Marino, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom. That alone amounted to 216 out of the 376 televote points which Finland received. 9 countries gave 10 televote points to Finland; those were Croatia, Czechia, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Ukraine, Rest of the World. That amounted to a further 90 of the 376 televote points which Finland received. The remaining 10 countries gave between 6 and 8 televote points to Finland. Interestingly, no country gave Finland less than 6 televote points.

The number of times Sweden and Finland received each particular points level (or no points at all) in the televoting is summarised in the following table:

Points level	Tele to Sweden	Sweden Pts	Tele to Finland	Finland Pts
0	1	0	0	0
1	1	1	0	0
2	1	2	0	0
3	3	9	0	0
4	3	12	0	0
5	3	15	0	0
6	3	18	4	24
7	6	42	2	14
8	8	64	4	32
10	8	80	9	90
12	0	0	18	216
TOTAL	37	243	37	376

Although Sweden received no 12-point scores from the public, they still managed to get 186 televote points from 10s, 8s and 7s, which was over three quarters of the 243 televote points they achieved altogether. For comparison, Finland amassed 136 televote points from 10s, 8s and 7s.

Number of 12s Received

Jury Voting

11 of the 26 finalists received at least one 12-point vote from the juries. The number of 12-point votes received by each of those 11 countries from the juries is shown in the table below.

12 Points to	No of 12s Received	Total From 12s
Australia	2	24
Austria	1	12
Belgium	3	36
Czechia	1	12
Estonia	1	12
Finland	2	24
Israel	5	60
Italy	5	60
Slovenia	1	12
Sweden	15	180
Ukraine	1	12
	37	444

Here, the country which received the highest number of 12-point scores (15 altogether) is clearly obvious: Sweden. It’s hardly surprising Sweden won the jury vote by a landslide, and ended up winning overall; the 180 jury points they received from that many 12-point scores amounted to over half of their overall jury total of 340 points, and over three tenths of their overall total of 583 points. Israel and Italy, which finished second and third respectively in the jury vote, both received the second highest number of 12-point scores (5 each). Belgium, which finished 7th in the jury vote, received the next highest number of 12-point scores (3 altogether). This shows that, on this occasion, 3 sets of 12 jury points was enough to get into the top ten, but not enough to get into the top five, of the jury vote. Finland (4th in the jury vote) and Australia (6th in the jury vote) each received 2 sets of 12 jury points. The remaining five countries shown here (Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Slovenia, Ukraine) received 12 jury points once each. The final jury placings of those five countries varied considerably; amazingly Estonia managed to place 5th in the jury vote, despite receiving just one set of 12 jury points. Austria placed 8th and Czechia placed 10th (in other words lower top ten) in the jury vote. However, Slovenia ended up a rather disappointing 19th place with just 33 points in the jury vote, despite receiving one set of 12 jury points. Clearly, one set of 12 jury points alone wasn’t enough to guarantee place in the top fifteen, let alone top ten, of the jury vote.

Televoting

12 of the 26 finalists received at least one 12-point vote from the televoting. The number of 12-point votes received by each of those 12 countries in the televoting is shown in the table below.

12 Points to	No of 12s Received	Total From 12s
Albania	1	12
Armenia	2	24
Croatia	1	12
Cyprus	1	12
Finland	18	216
Israel	4	48
Italy	2	24
Moldova	2	24
Norway	1	12
Poland	1	12
Slovenia	1	12
Ukraine	4	48
	38	456

Here, the country which received the highest number of 12-point scores (18 altogether) is clearly obvious: Finland. It’s hardly surprising Finland won the televote by a landslide; the 216 televote points they received from that many 12-point scores amounted to nearly three fifths of their overall televote total of 376 points, and over two fifths their overall total of 526 points. With 38 countries voting (including Rest of the World), and 18 sets of 12-point scores allocated to one finalist, that left 20 sets of 12-point scores for other finalists. Ukraine (4th in the televote) and Israel (5th in the televote) each received the second highest number of 12-point scores (4 sets each). Three countries (Armenia, Italy, Moldova) each received 2 sets of 12-point scores in the televote. Of these, Italy finished 6th, Moldova finished 9th and Armenia finished 13th in the televote. Clearly, 2 sets of 12 televote points wasn’t enough to get into the top five of the televote, and in the case of Armenia, that wasn’t enough to finish in the top ten of the televote. The remaining six countries (Albania, Croatia, Cyprus, Norway, Poland, Slovenia) received just one set of 12 televote points each. The final televote placings of those six countries varied considerably; amazingly Norway managed to finish 3rd in the televote, with 216 points, despite receiving only one set of 12 televote points. On the other hand, Slovenia placed a rather disappointing 16th in the televote, despite receiving one set of 12 televote points. The most notable absentee from this table is Sweden. Despite receiving no 12-point scores in the televote, Sweden still managed to finish 2nd with 243 points in the televote, and be the overall winner with 583 points.

All 12 Points

Jury Voting

The complete list of 12 jury point scores, and jury points awarded to Sweden (jury vote winner and overall winner) and Finland (jury vote fourth place and second place overall) is shown below.

#	From Country	12 Points to	Sweden	Finland
35	Albania	Sweden	12	0
18	Armenia	Israel	10	8
26	Australia	Belgium	7	5
10	Austria	Italy	10	8
9	Azerbaijan	Israel	10	3
13	Belgium	Austria	8	5
16	Croatia	Italy	10	7
23	Cyprus	Sweden	12	3
32	Czechia	Ukraine	10	5
27	Denmark	Sweden	12	8
17	Estonia	Sweden	12	10
12	Finland	Sweden	12	n/a
11	France	Israel	6	8
31	Georgia	Belgium	4	1
14	Germany	Sweden	12	0
34	Greece	Belgium	6	0
21	Iceland	Australia	7	10
7	Ireland	Sweden	12	8
29	Israel	Sweden	12	8
2	Italy	Israel	8	0
3	Latvia	Estonia	10	0
36	Lithuania	Sweden	12	3
5	Malta	Sweden	12	8
6	Moldova	Sweden	12	0
4	Netherlands	Sweden	12	10
24	Norway	Finland	10	12
19	Poland	Israel	7	0
15	Portugal	Australia	5	0
20	Romania	Italy	10	0
8	San Marino	Italy	4	0
22	Serbia	Slovenia	5	7
33	Slovenia	Italy	7	0
28	Spain	Sweden	12	1
30	Sweden	Finland	n/a	12
25	Switzerland	Czechia	6	0
1	Ukraine	Sweden	12	0
37	United Kingdom	Sweden	12	0
	TOTAL		340	150

Televoting

The complete list of 12 televote point scores, and televote points awarded to Sweden (televote second place and overall winner) and Finland (televote winner and second place overall) is shown below.

#	From Country	12 Points to	Sweden	Finland
35	Albania	Italy	10	6
18	Armenia	Israel	7	6
26	Australia	Finland	10	12
10	Austria	Finland	4	12
9	Azerbaijan	Israel	10	8
13	Belgium	Finland	10	12
16	Croatia	Slovenia	2	10
23	Cyprus	Israel	8	7
32	Czechia	Ukraine	6	10
27	Denmark	Finland	8	12
17	Estonia	Finland	10	12
12	Finland	Norway	0	0
11	France	Armenia	3	6
31	Georgia	Armenia	7	8
14	Germany	Finland	1	12
34	Greece	Cyprus	8	10
21	Iceland	Finland	10	12
7	Ireland	Finland	6	12
29	Israel	Finland	4	12
2	Italy	Moldova	3	6
3	Latvia	Finland	8	12
36	Lithuania	Finland	7	12
5	Malta	Italy	10	8
6	Moldova	Ukraine	8	7
4	Netherlands	Finland	8	12
24	Norway	Finland	10	12
19	Poland	Ukraine	7	10
15	Portugal	Ukraine	7	10
20	Romania	Moldova	8	10
8	San Marino	Finland	8	12
22	Serbia	Finland	6	12
33	Slovenia	Croatia	4	10
28	Spain	Finland	5	12
30	Sweden	Finland	0	12
25	Switzerland	Albania	5	8
1	Ukraine	Poland	3	10
37	United Kingdom	Finland	5	12
38	Rest of the World	Israel	7	10
	TOTAL		243	376

24 Points

Obviously, the maximum combined score a country can give to, or receive from another country is 24 points, that being 12 jury points and 12 televoting points. 5 of the 37 voting countries gave their 12 jury points and 12 televoting points to the same finalist, those being:

From Country	12+12 Points to
Armenia	Israel
Azerbaijan	Israel
Czechia	Ukraine
Norway	Finland
Sweden	Finland

N.B. This year it was not possible for Rest of the World to give 24 Points to a finalist country as this was an international online vote only (part of the public vote); there was no Rest of the World jury vote on this occasion.

As a result, just 3 countries (Finland, Israel, Ukraine) received at least one set of 12 jury points + 12 televoting points. The number of 12 jury points + 12 televoting points received by those 3 receiving countries is summarised in the table below. This time no country received more than two 24-point combined scores.

12+12 Points to	No of 24s Received	Total from 24s
Finland	2	48
Israel	2	48
Ukraine	1	24
	5	120

It’s hardly surprising that Finland, which finished fourth in the jury vote, won the televote by a landslide and finished second overall, was one of the two finalist countries which received two sets of 12 jury points + 12 televoting points. Even so, the 48 points Finland received this way was just 9.13% of their combined total of 526 points. The other country to receive two sets of 12 jury points + 12 televoting points, that being Israel, finished second with 177 points in the jury vote, fifth with 185 points in the televote and third with 362 points overall.

Back to the top

Country Groups

Now for a look at points awarded within certain groups of countries. N.B. In the following tables, boxes for a particular country to itself (e.g., from Finland to Finland) are marked “n/a” rather than 0, as no country can vote for itself.

Nordic Area

Three of the five Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden) qualified for the Grand Final this year, but all five Nordic countries voted in the final as follows. Denmark and Iceland, which were eliminated in the semi-finals, could only give and not receive points this time.

Jury Voting

From Country	Jury to Finland	Jury to Norway	Jury to Sweden
Denmark	8	10	12
Finland	n/a	0	12
Iceland	10	4	7
Norway	12	n/a	10
Sweden	12	8	n/a
Group Total	42	22	41
Overall Jury Total	150	52	340
% of Jury Total	28.00%	42.31%	12.06%

Here, Denmark and Finland both gave 12 jury points to Sweden, whereas Norway and Sweden both gave 12 jury points to Finland. Furthermore, one can see from this table that Finland and Sweden gave each other 12 jury points. In addition, Denmark gave its second highest jury score (10) to Norway and its third highest jury score (8) to Finland; therefore, Denmark gave its top three jury scores to other finalists within this group. Norway gave its second highest jury score (10) to Sweden; thus, Norway gave its top two jury scores to other finalists within this group. On the other hand, Iceland gave just 4 jury points to Norway, and Finland gave no jury points to Norway. Clearly, the Nordic countries don’t necessarily give their highest jury points to each other when they have the chance to. As for group totals, Finland did best here by scoring a total of 42 jury points within this group. Even so, that was less than a third of their overall jury score of 150 points, therefore over two thirds of Finland’s jury points had to come from outside the Nordic area. Sweden, which won the jury vote by a landslide, scored a total of 41 jury points within this group, but that was less than an eighth of their winning jury total, which was 340 points. Thus, over seven eights of Sweden’s jury points had to come from outside this group. Norway collected 22 jury points within this group, which was over two fifths of their overall jury total of 52 points. Even so, nearly three fifths of their jury points had to come from outside this group.

Televoting

From Country	Tele to Finland	Tele to Norway	Tele to Sweden
Denmark	12	10	8
Finland	n/a	12	0
Iceland	12	8	10
Norway	12	n/a	10
Sweden	12	10	n/a
Group Total	48	40	28
Overall Tele Total	376	216	243
% of Tele Total	12.77%	18.52%	11.52%

Here, Finland was the clear front runner, because all the other countries in this group (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) gave their 12 televote points to Finland. Thus, Finland achieved the maximum possible total of 48 televote points within this group. Even so, that was just over an eighth of their winning televote score of 376 points. Consequently, nearly seven eighths of their televote points had to come from outside the Nordic area. Apart from that, Norway and Sweden gave each other 10 televote points. Thus, unsurprisingly, Norway and Sweden gave their top two televote scores to other finalist countries within this group. Denmark gave its 10 televote points to Norway and 8 televote points to Sweden, whereas Iceland gave its 8 televote points to Norway and 10 televote points to Sweden. Thus, non-qualifiers Denmark and Iceland gave their top three televote scores to other finalist countries within this group. Interestingly, Finland gave its 12 televote points to Norway, but no televote points to Sweden. Altogether, Norway scored 40 televote points within this group, which was less than a fifth of its overall televote score of 216 points, and Sweden scored 28 televote points within this group, which was less than an eighth of its televote total of 243 points. Thus, Norway and Sweden still had to get most of their televote points from countries outside the Nordic area.

Baltic States (Ex USSR)

Two members of this group, Estonia and Lithuania, qualified for the Grand Final. The one remaining member, Latvia, failed to qualify. The upshot of this was that Latvia was able to give jury and televoting points to Estonia and Lithuania, and that Estonia and Lithuania were able to give each other jury and televoting points. However, neither Estonia nor Lithuania could give points to Latvia.

Jury Voting

From Country	Jury to Estonia	Jury to Lithuania
Estonia	n/a	1
Latvia	12	7
Lithuania	5	n/a
Group Total	17	8
Overall Jury Total	146	81
% of Jury Total	11.64%	9.88%

As can be seen, there was only one exchange of 12 jury points within this group, that being from Latvia to Estonia. Interestingly, Latvia gave just 7 jury points to Lithuania. This blows out of the window anyone’s expectation that, Latvia would have given its second highest jury score (10 points) to Lithuania after giving its top jury score (12 points) to Estonia. Elsewhere, Lithuania gave just 5 jury points to Estonia, and Estonia gave just 1 jury point to Lithuania. This blows out of the window anyone’s expectation that Estonia and Lithuania would automatically give each other 12 jury points. As for group totals, Estonia did best here, but even so, the 17 jury points they received within this group was only just over a ninth of their overall jury total of 146 points. Lithuania received 8 jury points within this group, but that was less than a tenth of their overall jury total of 81 points. This proves that Estonia and Lithuania had to get most of their jury points from outside this group.

Televoting

From Country	Tele to Estonia	Tele to Lithuania
Estonia	n/a	5
Latvia	6	10
Lithuania	5	n/a
Group Total	11	15
Overall Tele Total	22	46
% of Tele Total	50.00%	32.61%

As can be seen, there were no exchanges of 12 televote points within this group. The highest televote score awarded, within this group, was 10 televote points from Latvia to Lithuania. Latvia gave just 6 televote points to Estonia. Elsewhere, Estonia and Lithuania gave each other 5 televote points. This blew out of the window anyone’s expectation that Estonia and Lithuania would automatically give each other 12 televote points, or that Latvia would give its 12 televote points to Estonia. All of this proves that the three Baltic countries don’t necessarily give their highest televote scores to other members of this group. Looking at the group totals and percentages, Lithuania received the highest number of televote points within this group. Even so, the 15 televote points which Lithuania received, within this group, was less than a third of their overall televote total of 46 points. Hence over two thirds of the televote points, which Lithuania received, had to come from outside this group. Estonia received 11 televote points within this group, which was exactly half of their overall televote total of 22 points. Although that sounds impressive, the other half of Estonia’s televote points still had to come from outside this group, and in any case, their overall televote total was considerably lower than Lithuania’s overall televote score.

Nordic and Baltic

Things get even more interesting when the Nordic and Baltic countries are analysed together as one group, because it’s possible to see how Nordic countries favour (or not favour) Baltic countries and vice versa.

Jury Voting

From Country	Jury to Estonia	Jury to Finland	Jury to Lithuania	Jury to Norway	Jury to Sweden
Denmark	0	8	4	10	12
Estonia	n/a	10	1	0	12
Finland	0	n/a	0	0	12
Iceland	0	10	0	4	7
Latvia	12	0	7	0	10
Lithuania	5	3	n/a	0	12
Norway	0	12	0	n/a	10
Sweden	2	12	0	8	n/a
Group Total	19	55	12	22	75
Overall Jury Total	146	150	81	52	340
% of Jury Total	13.01%	36.67%	14.81%	42.31%	22.06%

Here, the clear front runner was Sweden, which won the jury vote by a landslide, and overall. In addition to the previously mentioned Nordic countries, the Baltic countries Estonia and Lithuania both gave their 12 jury points to Sweden, whereas Latvia gave 10 jury points to Sweden. As a result, Sweden received a total of 75 jury points within this area, which was over a fifth of its winning jury score (340 points). Impressive as that seems, nearly four fifths of their jury points still had to come from outside the Nordic and Baltic areas. Estonia gave 10 jury points to Finland, and Lithuania gave 3 jury points to Finland, but Latvia gave no jury points to Finland. Altogether, Finland received a total of 55 jury points within this group, which was over a third of their overall jury total of 150 points. Nonetheless, nearly two thirds of their jury points still had to come from outside this area. Interestingly, none of the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) gave any jury points to Norway. The only exchanges of jury points from Nordic to Baltic countries were 2 jury points from Sweden to Estonia, and 4 jury points from Denmark to Lithuania. As can be clearly seen, Estonia and Lithuania had to get most of their jury points from outside this area.

Televoting

From Country	Tele to Estonia	Tele to Finland	Tele to Lithuania	Tele to Norway	Tele to Sweden
Denmark	0	12	0	10	8
Estonia	n/a	12	5	7	10
Finland	6	n/a	0	12	0
Iceland	0	12	0	8	10
Latvia	6	12	10	3	8
Lithuania	5	12	n/a	0	7
Norway	0	12	0	n/a	10
Sweden	0	12	0	10	n/a
Group Total	17	84	15	50	53
Overall Tele Total	22	376	46	216	243
% of Tele Total	77.27%	22.34%	32.61%	23.15%	21.81%

Here Finland, which won the public vote by a landslide, was the clear front runner, because the other seven countries in this group each gave their top televote score (12) to Finland. As a result, Finland achieved the maximum possible televote total, which was 84 points, within this group alone. Nonetheless, that amounted to less than a quarter of their winning televote score of 376 points. Thus, over three quarters of Finland’s televote points had to come from outside the Nordic and Baltic areas. Apart from that, Estonia gave 7 televote points to Norway and 10 televote points to Sweden, Latvia gave 3 televote points to Norway and 8 televote points to Sweden, but Lithuania gave no televote points to Norway and 7 televote points to Sweden. Interestingly, there was only one exchange of televote points from a Nordic country to a Baltic country, that being 6 televote points from Finland to Estonia. For this year anyway, the Nordic countries seemed less keen to give televote points to the Baltic finalists than the Baltic countries were at giving televote points to the Nordic finalists. Sweden, which finished second in the televote, and was the overall winner, received a total of 53 televote points within this group, but that was just over a fifth of the 243 televote points they scored altogether. Norway, which finished third in the televote, received a total of 50 televote points within this group, but that was less than a quarter of their overall televote score of 216 points. Thus, Sweden had to get nearly four fifths, and Norway had to get over three quarters of their televote points from outside this group. Estonia scored a total of 17 televote points within this group. Although that was over three quarters of its overall televote score of 22 points, Estonia still had to get the remaining 5 televote points from outside this area, for the record, those 5 televote points came from the Netherlands.

Ex-Yugoslavia

Only three of the former Yugoslav countries (Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia) entered this year, but this was a lucky year for them in that all three of them qualified to the Grand Final. The upshot of this was Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia were able to give each other jury and televoting points.

Jury Voting

From Country	Jury to Croatia	Jury to Serbia	Jury to Slovenia
Croatia	n/a	4	5
Serbia	8	n/a	12
Slovenia	0	0	n/a
Group Total	8	4	17
Overall Jury Total	11	14	33
% of Jury Total	72.73%	28.57%	51.52%

Here, the only exchange of 12 jury points was from Serbia to Slovenia. Croatia gave just 4 jury points to Serbia and 5 jury points to Slovenia. Surprisingly, Slovenia gave no jury points to Croatia or Serbia. This clearly shows that the ex-Yugoslav countries don’t necessarily give each other any jury points, let alone their top jury points, when they are able to. Looking at the group totals, Slovenia did best here, because the 17 jury points they received altogether, within this group, was just over half of their overall jury score of 33 points. Even so, nearly half of their jury points still had to come from outside this area. The 8 jury points which Croatia received in this area (all of which were from Serbia) amounted to nearly three quarters of their overall jury score, which itself was a rather disappointing 11 jury points. When a country has such tiny scores, analysing its results in this way is rather meaningless. In any case, the remaining 3 jury points which Croatia received had to come from outside this area; for the record, Portugal gave Croatia those 3 jury points.

Televoting

From Country	Tele to Croatia	Tele to Serbia	Tele to Slovenia
Croatia	n/a	7	12
Serbia	10	n/a	8
Slovenia	12	6	n/a
Group Total	22	13	20
Overall Tele Total	112	16	45
% of Tele Total	19.64%	81.25%	44.44%

More points were exchanged among the former Yugoslav countries on televoting than on jury voting. As can be seen here, Croatia and Slovenia gave each other 12 televote points, which is hardly surprising. However, Croatia gave just 7 televote points to Serbia, and Slovenia gave just 6 televote points to Serbia. This blows out of the window anyone’s expectation that Croatia and Slovenia would have given their second highest televote scores (10) to Serbia. Serbia gave only their second and third highest televote scores to the other members of this group, not their top two televote scores as one might expect. Looking at the group totals, Croatia scored a total of 22 televote points within this group, which was less a fifth of their overall televote score of 112 points, so over four fifths of their televote points had to come from outside the former Yugoslav area. Slovenia scored 20 televote points within this group, but since that was less than half of their overall televote score of 45 points, over half their televote points had to come from elsewhere. Finally, Serbia managed to score 13 televote points within this group, which was over four fifths of their overall televote total of 16 points. With such a low overall public vote score, it’s rather meaningless analysing the result in this way. Anyway, Serbia’s remaining 3 televote points still had to come from outside this group; for the record, Serbia received 2 televote points from Malta and 1 televote point from Switzerland.

English Speaking Countries

Another group worth looking at here are the English-speaking countries Australia, Ireland, Malta and the United Kingdom. Within this group, the United Kingdom automatically qualified for the Grand Final on two counts this year: (i) as a Big Five member (as usual) and (ii) as host country. Of the other three countries which took part in the semi-finals, Australia qualified for the Grand Final, whereas Ireland and Malta failed to qualify. Of course, Ireland and Malta still voted in the Grand Final, but could only give and not receive jury and televoting points in the final.

Jury Voting

From Country	Jury to Australia	Jury to United Kingdom
Australia	n/a	0
Ireland	4	2
Malta	0	0
United Kingdom	10	n/a
Group Total	14	2
Overall Jury Total	130	15
% of Jury Total	10.77%	13.33%

As can be seen, the highest jury score awarded, within this group, was 10 jury points from the United Kingdom to Australia. Ireland gave just 4 jury points to Australia and 2 jury points to the United Kingdom. Australia gave no jury points to the United Kingdom, and Malta gave no jury points to Australia or the United Kingdom. This blows out of the window anyone’s expectation that Australia and the United Kingdom would give each other 12 jury points, and that Ireland and Malta would give their top two jury scores to Australia and the United Kingdom. In fact, the countries within this group don’t necessarily give other members of this group any jury points, let alone high scores. Looking at the group totals, Australia received 14 jury points within this group, but that was just over a tenth of their overall jury total of 130 points. This meant most of Australia’s jury points had to come from outside this group. The United Kingdom received just 2 jury points (all of which were from Ireland) within this group. That amounted to 13.33% of its overall jury total of 15 points, so the remaining 13 of the jury points which the United Kingdom received had to come from countries outside this group.

Televoting

From Country	Tele to Australia	Tele to United Kingdom
Australia	n/a	0
Ireland	0	0
Malta	0	4
United Kingdom	2	n/a
Group Total	2	4
Overall Tele Total	21	9
% of Tele Total	9.52%	44.44%

Here, the only exchanges of televote points were 4 televote points from Malta to the United Kingdom, and 2 televote points from the United Kingdom to Australia. This clearly shows that the countries within this group don’t necessarily award any televote points at all, let alone their highest televote points, to other members of this group. As for the group totals, Australia’s group total of 2 televote points was less than a tenth of their overall televote total of 21 points. Thus, most of Australia’s televote points had to come from outside this group. Undeniably, the United Kingdom did best in terms of percentage of total televote points received within this group. The United Kingdom’s group total of 4 televote points amounted to 44.44% of its overall televote total of 9 points. That percentage may seem impressive, but when a country has such tiny scores, analysing its results in this way is rather meaningless. In any case, the United Kingdom’s remaining 5 televote points had to come from outside this group; in fact, they all came from Ukraine.

Central Europe

Another group is the Central European countries Austria, Czechia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Switzerland (Hungary and Slovakia didn’t enter this year). Within this group, Germany automatically qualified for the Grand Final as a Big Five member. The other five countries (Austria, Czechia, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland), which took part in one of the semi-finals, all qualified for the Grand Final. The upshot of this was, Austria, Czechia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Switzerland were all able to exchange jury points and televote points among each other in the Grand Final.

Jury Voting

From Country	Jury to Austria	Jury to Czechia	Jury to Germany	Jury to Poland	Jury to Slovenia	Jury to Switzerland
Austria	n/a	5	0	0	6	4
Czechia	0	n/a	1	0	6	0
Germany	2	5	n/a	0	0	0
Poland	0	0	0	n/a	0	2
Slovenia	3	6	0	0	n/a	1
Switzerland	7	12	0	0	0	n/a
Group Total	12	28	1	0	12	7
Overall Jury Total	104	94	3	12	33	61
% of Jury Total	11.54%	29.79%	33.33%	0.00%	36.36%	11.48%

This group seems a bit more complicated with countries favouring one another. Within this group, the only exchange of 12 jury points was from Switzerland to Czechia. Switzerland also gave 7 jury points to Austria; that was the second highest jury score awarded from one country to another within this group. Elsewhere, there were three exchanges of 6 jury points (Austria and Czechia both gave 6 jury points to Slovenia, and Slovenia gave 6 jury points to Czechia). Within this subset of scores, one can see that Czechia and Slovenia gave each other 6 jury points. One can also see several zeroes in the above table. Clearly, the countries in this group don’t necessarily give each other jury points at all, let alone their highest jury points. Looking at the group totals, Czechia scored the highest number of jury points within this group (28 altogether), but that was less than a third of their overall jury total of 94 points. Thus, Czechia had to get over two thirds of its jury points from outside this group. Germany scored just 1 jury point within this group (that jury point was from Czechia), but that amounted to exactly a third of Germany’s overall jury score of 3 points. The other 2 jury points which Germany received (two thirds of their total) had to come from outside Central Europe; for the record, those 2 jury points were from Iceland. This is another example of when a country has such tiny scores, it’s meaningless to analyse the result in this way. Poland received no jury points at all within this group, so the 12 jury points they achieved altogether all had to come from outside this group.

Televoting

From Country	Tele to Austria	Tele to Czechia	Tele to Germany	Tele to Poland	Tele to Slovenia	Tele to Switzerland
Austria	n/a	0	6	0	0	2
Czechia	0	n/a	0	0	3	0
Germany	0	0	n/a	4	0	3
Poland	0	3	0	n/a	2	0
Slovenia	0	0	0	1	n/a	0
Switzerland	0	0	4	0	0	n/a
Group Total	0	3	10	5	5	5
Overall Tele Total	16	35	15	81	45	31
% of Tele Total	0.00%	8.57%	66.67%	6.17%	11.11%	16.13%

Here, the highest televote score awarded, within this group, was 6 televote points from Austria to Germany. This was, in fact, the only exchange of 6 televote points within this group. There were some exchanges of lower televote scores within this group, one of which was 4 televote points from Switzerland to Germany. Once again, there are several zeroes in this table. Clearly, the countries in this group don’t necessarily give each other televote points at all, let alone their highest televote points. Looking at the group totals, Germany fared best here, by scoring a total of 10 televote points within this group. This amounted to exactly two thirds of their overall televote score, which was 15 points. Even so, Germany still had to get its remaining 5 televote points from outside Central Europe; for the record, Finland gave Germany the remaining 5 televote points. Czechia, Poland, Slovenia and Switzerland each received a few televote points within this group, but in each case, most of their televote points had to come from elsewhere. Austria received no televote points within this group, so all of its televote points (16 altogether) had to come from outside this group.

Other

Greece, which failed to qualify for the Grand Final, gave just 4 jury points to Cyprus. This must have come as a shock to millions of viewers who expected the Greek jury to automatically give 12 points to Cyprus. Clearly, Greece doesn’t necessarily give 12 jury points to Cyprus. On this occasion, Greece gave its 12 jury points to Belgium. Unsurprisingly though, Greece gave 12 televote points to Cyprus. Obviously, it was impossible for Cyprus to give any points to Greece this time; for the record, Cyprus gave its 12 jury points to Sweden, and its 12 televote points to Israel.

Portugal gave 10 jury points to Spain, and just 3 televote points to Spain. Spain gave just 6 jury points to Portugal, and just 4 televote points to Portugal. This blows out of the window anyone’s expectation that Spain and Portugal would give each other 12 jury points and 12 televote points. For the record, Portugal gave its 12 jury points to Australia and its 12 televote points to Ukraine, whereas Spain gave its 12 jury points to Sweden and its 12 televote points to Finland.

The Netherlands, which failed to qualify for the Grand Final, gave just 4 jury points to Belgium and 10 televote points to Belgium. This blew out of the window anyone’s expectation that the Netherlands would automatically give Belgium 12 jury points and 12 televote points. On this occasion, the Netherlands gave its 12 jury points to Sweden and its 12 televote points to Finland. Obviously, it was impossible for Belgium to give any points to the Netherlands this time; for the record, Belgium gave its 12 jury points to Austria, and its 12 televote points to Finland.

Romania, which failed to qualify for the Grand Final, gave 7 jury points to Moldova. This blows out of the window anyone’s expectation that Romania would automatically give 12 jury points to Moldova. On this occasion, Romania gave its 12 jury points to Italy. Unsurprisingly though, Romania gave 12 televote points to Moldova. Obviously, it was impossible for Moldova to give any points to Romania this time; for the record, Moldova gave its 12 jury points to Sweden, and its 12 televote points to Ukraine.

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Points to United Kingdom

5 countries gave jury points to the United Kingdom, as follows:

From Country	Points to UK
Finland	4
Sweden	4
Ukraine	4
Ireland	2
Denmark	1
TOTAL	15

2 countries gave televoting points to the United Kingdom as follows:

From Country	Points to UK
Ukraine	5
Malta	4
TOTAL	9

Notice that Ukraine was the only country which gave the United Kingdom both jury points and televoting points this year.

The number of times the United Kingdom received each particular points level in the jury voting and televoting is summarised in the following table:

Points level	Jury to United Kingdom	United Kingdom Jury Pts	Tele to United Kingdom	United Kingdom Tele Pts
0	31	0	35	0
1	1	1	0	0
2	1	2	0	0
3	0	0	0	0
4	3	12	1	4
5	0	0	1	5
6	0	0	0	0
7	0	0	0	0
8	0	0	0	0
10	0	0	0	0
12	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	36	15	37	9

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Alternative Voting Presentation

During the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Grand Final, the jury voting points from each of the participating 37 countries (including the 11 non-qualifiers) were presented in the traditional way, i.e. for each country the 1 to 10 point scores were displayed on screen when the spokesperson appeared, added to the scoreboard as a block and the spokesperson announced the 12-point score. The voting order was: Ukraine, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Malta, Moldova, Ireland, San Marino, Azerbaijan, Austria, France, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Croatia, Estonia, Armenia, Poland, Romania, Iceland, Serbia, Cyprus, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, Spain, Israel, Sweden, Georgia, Czechia, Slovenia, Greece, Albania, Lithuania, United Kingdom.

This whole process took about 38 minutes. After a short break, Hannah and Graham announced the televoting totals for each of the 26 finalists, one by one, starting with the country which had the lowest jury score (Germany) and finishing with the country with the highest jury score (Sweden). Each time, Green Room shots of the applicable artists were shown. This process, from start to finish, took about 19 minutes.

Televote Totals Last to First

What if, after the 37 countries’ jury points had been put on the scoreboard in the manner they were (from Ukraine to United Kingdom), the televote totals had been announced in the way they were from 2016 to 2018 inclusive, going from the finalist that finished last in the televote to the finalist that finished first in the televote? For this description, I've started with the final jury scoreboard, as it appeared when all 37 sets of jury points had been put on the scoreboard.

1	Sweden	340	14	Switzerland	61
2	Israel	177	15	Ukraine	54
3	Italy	176	16	France	54
4	Finland	150	17	Norway	52
5	Estonia	146	18	Portugal	43
6	Australia	130	19	Slovenia	33
7	Belgium	127	20	Moldova	20
8	Austria	104	21	Albania	17
9	Spain	95	22	United Kingdom	15
10	Czechia	94	23	Serbia	14
11	Lithuania	81	24	Poland	12
12	Armenia	69	25	Croatia	11
13	Cyprus	68	26	Germany	3

Afterwards Hannah and Graham would have announced the televote totals for each of the 26 finalists, starting with the bottom 16 from 26th to 11th, in rapid succession, as follows. N.B. I have simulated the procedure by inserting the televote totals alongside the jury totals into a spreadsheet and sorting it as each televote total was added. This is how I've been able to describe country movements on the scoreboard. To see all the simultaneous movements by multiple counties as each televote total would have been read out, one would need an animated graphic simulation of the scoreboard. Comments that Mel Giedroyc might have said are shown in square brackets.

5 points to Spain (keeping them in 9th place for now). [I’m surprised by that, she dealt with that very graciously. Took her to three figures though, 100, that’s good.]
9 points to the United Kingdom (taking them to 20th place initially). [9 points for the UK, Mae’ll possibly be a little bit disappointed with that. Whatever happens now, Moldova and Albania will overtake us (the UK).]
15 points to Germany (taking them to 22nd place initially). [Well, that takes them up a little bit on that right-hand side of the leader board for now. Sadly, whatever happens, they’re going to be pushed back to last place.]
16 points to Portugal (taking them to 15th place initially).
16 points to Austria (keeping them in 8th place for now). [I’m very surprised, that was a banger in the Arena. That doesn’t move them anywhere on the scoreboard.]
16 points to Serbia (taking them to 20th place initially). [Well done, Serbia, up you go, you’re ahead of Moldova for the time being, but you won’t be able to stay above them.]
21 points to Australia (taking them to 4th place initially). [Goodness, goodness me, I thought they’d be scooting right up there, not to be tonight.]
22 points to Estonia (taking them to 4th place initially). [22 for Estonia, taking them just the other side of Australia there, not much of a change.]
31 points to Switzerland (taking them to 11th place initially). [Good, it takes them to the left-hand side of the leader board for now, but I don’t think they can say there.]
35 points to Czechia (taking them to 7th place initially).
45 points to Slovenia (taking them to 13th place initially). [OK, moves them up, they’re not going to win, but it moves them up.]
46 points to Lithuania (taking them to 8th place initially). [127, she looks really pleased.]
50 points to France (taking them to 11th place initially). [50 points for La Zarra, I’m a bit surprised by that, I’d have thought that would have done better with the public vote, but there you go, it’s Eurovision, anything can happen.]
53 points to Armenia (taking them to 10th place initially). [OK, where are we with Armenia, 122, and they’re on the left-hand side of the leader board for now.]
55 points to Belgium (taking them to 2nd place initially). [55 points, takes them up to 182, which is very respectable. They’re in 2nd place now, but they won’t be able to stay there.]
58 points to Cyprus (taking them to 10th place initially). [58 for Cyprus, taking them across, 126 points].

The scoreboard would have looked like this after the bottom 16 televote totals were announced (countries which had already received their televote totals are in bold).

1	Sweden	340	14	Spain	100
2	Belgium	182	15	Switzerland	92
3	Israel	177	16	Slovenia	78
4	Italy	176	17	Portugal	59
5	Estonia	168	18	Ukraine	54
6	Australia	151	19	Norway	52
7	Finland	150	20	Serbia	30
8	Czechia	129	21	United Kingdom	24
9	Lithuania	127	22	Moldova	20
10	Cyprus	126	23	Germany	18
11	Armenia	122	24	Albania	17
12	Austria	120	25	Poland	12
13	France	104	26	Croatia	11

N.B. By now, 493 televote points would have been allocated to the scoreboard, and there would have been 1711 televote points to share among the top ten countries of the televote. However, the minimum any one of the ten remaining countries could have received would have been 58 televote points (just like Cyprus).

The countries placed 10th to 4th would have been announced at a much slower pace. Hannah and Graham would (almost certainly) have announced the recipients of the top ten televote totals in turn. Each time the applicable country's score would have been updated and repositioned on the scoreboard, and viewers would have seen a brief shot of the applicable artist in the Green Room.

The country that got the 10th highest score, with 59 points is Albania (taking them to 17th place initially). [Albania shooting up on the right-hand side there, 76 points.]
The country that got the 9th highest score, with 76 points is Moldova (taking them to 15th place initially). [Nice little score there for Moldova, up they go on the right-hand side.]
The country that got the 8th highest score, with 81 points is Poland (taking them to 16th place initially). [There goes Poland, shooting up on the right-hand side.]
The country that got the 7th highest score, with 112 points is Croatia (taking them to 11th place initially). [That’s very good for Croatia, look at that, suddenly you see, they go flying across to the left-hand side of the leader board. What did we say? Everything can change.]
The country that got the 6th highest score, with 174 points is Italy. We have a new leader (taking them to 1st place initially). [Italy are in the lead. Sadly, they can’t stay there, but they can enjoy their moment in the lead.]
The country that got the 5th highest score, with 185 points is Israel, and now Israel are in the lead (taking them to 1st place initially). [Wow, another new leader.]
The country that got the 4th highest score, with 189 points is Ukraine (taking them to 4th place initially). [That’s a good result for Ukraine, taking them into fourth place with 243 points.]

At this point the scoreboard would have looked like this (countries which had already received their televote totals are in bold):

1	Israel	362	14	Austria	120
2	Italy	350	15	France	104
3	Sweden	340	16	Spain	100
4	Ukraine	243	17	Moldova	96
5	Belgium	182	18	Poland	93
6	Estonia	168	19	Switzerland	92
7	Australia	151	20	Slovenia	78
8	Finland	150	21	Albania	76
9	Czechia	129	22	Portugal	59
10	Lithuania	127	23	Norway	52
11	Cyprus	126	24	Serbia	30
12	Croatia	123	25	United Kingdom	24
13	Armenia	122	26	Germany	18

By now, 1369 televote points would have been allocated to the scoreboard, and there would have been 835 televote points remaining. With just three countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway) still awaiting their televote points, Israel would have been currently in the lead with its final score of 362 points. However, the minimum each of the remaining three countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway) could have received would have been 189 televote points, just like Ukraine. It would have been clearly obvious that it would have been mathematically impossible for Israel to hold its lead and win outright. It’s difficult to speculate what split screen effect would have been used next, and what would have been said next. If the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 Grand Final is anything to go by, Hannah or Graham would have pretended Israel could still win, and said “The winner can now be Israel, who are currently in the lead, or one of the three countries that haven’t received their points from the public vote, that’s Sweden, Finland or Norway”. Green Room shots of the artists representing Israel, Sweden, Finland and Norway would have been shown in four on-screen windows before continuing.

The country that got the 3rd highest score, with 216 points is Norway (taking them to 4th place initially). [Look at that, Alessandra going into fourth place, she looks really pleased, what a lovely girl.]

By now, 1585 televote points would have been allocated to the scoreboard, and there would have been 619 televote points remaining to share between Sweden and Finland. However, the minimum either of them could have received would have been 216 televote points (just like Norway). If one of those countries received 216 televote points, that would have left 403 televote points for the other country. If Finland received 216 televote points, it would have finished with a combined score of 366 points, thereby overtaking Israel. Whatever happened next, both Sweden and Finland would have been guaranteed to leapfrog Israel. If Sweden finished with the now minimum possible score of 216 televote points, it would have finished with 556 points, and the remaining 403 televote points would have increased Finland’s score to 553 points. Thus, there would now have only been one possible winner, Sweden. Of course, very few viewers (if any) would have known how many televote points were left for the remaining two countries at this point, even though it was obvious that at least Sweden would overtake Israel. Presumably, Hannah and Graham would have continued pretending Israel could still win, and presentation would have continued as follows.

So, Israel is still in the lead, but bear in mind that two countries still need to receive their points from the public vote. So, the winner can be either the current leader Israel, or one of the two countries that haven’t received their points from the public yet, Sweden or Finland.

Green Room shots of the artists representing Israel, Sweden and Finland would have been shown, left to right, across the screen, before continuing.

The country that got the 2nd highest score, with 243 points is Sweden, putting them back in the lead (taking them to 1st place initially). [Oh, my goodness, Loreen is back in the lead, I think she’s going to win.]

The favourite, according to you at home, is Finland, but will they get enough points to pass Sweden, who are currently in the lead? Finland now needs at least 434 points to pass Sweden. [I don’t think Finland can do it; I doubt if there are that many public vote points left. This is an exciting moment, it’s down to the wire.] (Green Room shots of the artists representing Sweden and Finland would have been shown, left to right, across the screen.) Finland, the public have given you 376 points, which is not enough to pass Sweden. We have a winner, Sweden, you’ve won the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Congratulations to Loreen. [Wow, the public liked Käärijä, but it wasn’t enough for them to win. They finish in second place. So, the winner is Loreen, she’s done it again, she won in 2012 with “Euphoria”, and she’s done it again tonight, in 2023, with “Tattoo”. Well done, Loreen.]

The final scoreboard would have looked like this:

1	Sweden	583	14	Armenia	122
2	Finland	526	15	Austria	120
3	Israel	362	16	France	104
4	Italy	350	17	Spain	100
5	Norway	268	18	Moldova	96
6	Ukraine	243	19	Poland	93
7	Belgium	182	20	Switzerland	92
8	Estonia	168	21	Slovenia	78
9	Australia	151	22	Albania	76
10	Czechia	129	23	Portugal	59
11	Lithuania	127	24	Serbia	30
12	Cyprus	126	25	United Kingdom	24
13	Croatia	123	26	Germany	18

Televoting First, Jury Totals Last

What would have happened if the televoting points from each calling country had been announced by the 37 spokespersons, plus an additional spokesperson for Rest of the World, first? Let's assume the order of presentation was the same as was used for announcement of the jury points, as specified above, and that Rest of the World would have had its points announced last of all.

A few things are obvious:
• Finland would have finished 1st with 376 points and Sweden would have finished 2nd with 243 points (an enormous margin of 133 points).
• Poland would have been in the lead, and Finland would have been second, when the first country (Ukraine) announced its televote points.
• Finland would have been in the lead after Italy (2nd to call) announced its televote points.
• The United Kingdom would have received televote points twice only: 5 from Ukraine and 4 from Malta.
• Spain would have finished last with 5 points.
• No-one would have finished with zero points (and hence not been listed / mentioned in any calling country’s scores).

The following are speculated. Although all the jury points and televoting points each of the 37 countries awarded to the finalists are available on eurovision.tv, the only way to confirm the following would be able to create a graphic simulation of the scoreboard, starting with the finalists on zero in the order they performed, and each of the 37 countries' televoting points (1 to 12) being added in the order mentioned above.
• After Latvia (3rd to call) had announced its televote points, Finland would, most likely, have pulled ahead.
• Finland would have become uncatchable on televote points alone when there were still about 10 countries still to call.
• For some of the voting a “cat and mouse” situation probably have occurred between Sweden and Norway for second and third place.

Once all 38 spokespersons had finished announcing their televoting points, the scoreboard would have looked like this.

1	Finland	376	14	France	50
2	Sweden	243	15	Lithuania	46
3	Norway	216	16	Slovenia	45
4	Ukraine	189	17	Czechia	35
5	Israel	185	18	Switzerland	31
6	Italy	174	19	Estonia	22
7	Croatia	112	20	Australia	21
8	Poland	81	21	Serbia	16
9	Moldova	76	22	Austria	16
10	Albania	59	23	Portugal	16
11	Cyprus	58	24	Germany	15
12	Belgium	55	25	United Kingdom	9
13	Armenia	53	26	Spain	5

A short break would have been held, during which Julia and Alesha would have spoken to Käärijä from Finland, congratulating them for having won the public vote.

Two methods of announcing the 26 finalists' jury totals are outlined below.

Jury Totals Going Up Televote Scoreboard

The exact opposite of what happened in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Grand Final. Hannah and Graham would have started with the country that finished bottom of the televote (Spain), and worked their way up the scoreboard, country by country, until they reached the televote winner (Finland). Here I have simulated the procedure by inserting the jury totals alongside the televoting totals into a spreadsheet and sorting it as each jury total was added. This is how I've been able to describe country movements on the scoreboard. To see all the simultaneous movements by multiple counties as each jury total would have been read out, one would need an animated graphic simulation of the scoreboard. Comments that Mel Giedroyc might have said are shown in square brackets.

Graham: Alright Spain, I can tell you that, after the jury vote, you have received 95 points (taking them to 8th place initially). [That’s very good for Spain, look at that, suddenly you see, they go flying across to the left-hand side of the leader board. What did we say? Everything can change.]
Hannah: Next, it’s the turn of the United Kingdom. [OK, deep breath.] The jury vote has awarded you 15 points (taking them to 20th place initially). [15 points for the UK, Mae hasn’t done much better with the juries. She’ll possibly be a little bit disappointed with that. That takes us (the UK) up to 20th place for now, but I don’t think we’ll be there long.]
Graham: Germany, you’re up next, after the jury vote, you received 3 points (taking them to 23rd place initially). [Disappointing for Germany, but that takes them up a little bit on that right-hand side of the leader board for now.]
Hannah: Portugal, the juries have awarded you 43 points (taking them to 12th place initially). [Mimicat, across she goes, to the left-hand side for now. 59 points altogether.]
Graham: Austria is up next. Austria, after the jury vote, you have received 104 points (taking them to 7th place initially). [Well, that changes things, they’re now on the left-hand side of the leader board, 7th place. It’s exciting isn’t it, it’s exciting.]
Hannah: Serbia, the juries have awarded you 14 points (taking them to 22nd place initially). [Well done Serbia, up you go.]
Graham: Let’s find out how Australia have fared. Australia, you have been awarded 130 points (taking them to 7th place initially). [There you go, the juries come along and change everything; Australia go flying across to the left-hand side of the leader board. Amazing.]
Hannah: Next up Estonia, the juries have awarded you 146 points (taking them to 7th place initially). [Wow, another country which fared much better with the juries than with the public. There goes Estonia, across to the left-hand side.]
Graham: It’s the turn of Switzerland now, Switzerland, you received 61 points (taking them to 12th place initially). [A good score for Switzerland there, it takes them to the left-hand side for now.]
Hannah: Czechia you’re up next, after the jury vote, you received 94 points (taking them to 9th place initially). [Another country which did considerably better with the juries than with the public; they go flying across to the left-hand side.]
Graham: Slovenia, the jury vote has given you 33 points (taking them to 15th place initially). [Slovenia shooting up on the right-hand side there.]
Hannah: Lithuania, time for your points, the national juries have given you 81 points (taking them to 10th place initially). [Another country gets a massive boost from the juries; that takes Lithuania to the left-hand side. 127, she looks really pleased.]
Graham: Alright, the turn of France now, and I can tell you that France have received 54 points (taking them to 13th place initially). [54 points for La Zarra, I’m a bit surprised by that, I’d have thought that would have done better with the juries, but there you go, it’s Eurovision, anything can happen.]
Hannah: Armenia, you’ve got 69 points from the juries (taking them to 11th place initially). [Well done, Armenia, across they go to the left-hand side of the leader board. 122, just behind Lithuania.]
Graham: Next to receive their points is Belgium. The juries have awarded you 127 points (taking them to 6th place initially). [Another country which fared considerably better with the juries than with the public. It’s nowhere near enough to win, but they go flying across to the left-hand side.]
Hannah: Cyprus, the juries have awarded you 68 points (taking them to 12th place initially). [68 for Cyprus, taking them across, 126 points].

With just ten countries left to receive their points from the juries, the scoreboard would have looked like this (countries which would have already received their jury totals are in bold):

1	Finland	376	14	Austria	120
2	Sweden	243	15	Croatia	112
3	Norway	216	16	France	104
4	Ukraine	189	17	Spain	100
5	Israel	185	18	Switzerland	92
6	Belgium	182	19	Poland	81
7	Italy	174	20	Slovenia	78
8	Estonia	168	21	Moldova	76
9	Australia	151	22	Albania	59
10	Czechia	129	23	Portugal	59
11	Lithuania	127	24	Serbia	30
12	Cyprus	126	25	United Kingdom	24
13	Armenia	122	26	Germany	18

N.B. By now, 1137 jury points would have been allocated to the scoreboard, and there would have been 1009 jury points remaining to share among the ten remaining countries.

Hannah: Right, it is getting very tense in here, we only have ten countries left to announce, but do bear in mind the leader board could still all change. [Absolutely, it could go topsy-turvy, it often does.]

Graham: Albania, you’re up next, after the jury vote, you received 17 points (keeping them in 22nd place). [I’m surprised by that; I’d have thought that would have done better with the juries.]
Hannah: Moldova, you have received 20 points (taking them to 18th place initially). [Disappointing for Moldova, after they did reasonably well with the public. Still, it takes them up a few places on the right-hand side.]
Graham: Next, it’s the turn of Poland, after the jury vote, you have received 12 points (taking them to 19th place). [Another low score from the juries, but at least it takes Poland up a place on the right-hand side.]
Hannah: Croatia, you have received 11 points from the juries (taking them to 13th place). [That’s got to hurt, after they did so well with the public, but at least they’re back on the left-hand side, and will now stay there.]
Graham: Next to receive their points is Italy. The juries have awarded you 176 points (taking them to 2nd place initially). [Not enough to top Finland, but a very good second placing at the moment, 350 points.]
Hannah: Israel, you are next, you get 177 points (taking them to 2nd place initially). [Well done, Israel, that’s still not enough to pass Finland, but it takes them to second place for now.]

With Finland still in the lead, on televote points alone, and four countries (Ukraine, Norway, Sweden, Finland) still to receive their jury scores, it’s likely there would have been a break at this point to show the four possible winners in split screen. At this point the scoreboard would have looked like this (countries which would have already received their jury totals are in bold):

1	Finland	376	14	Armenia	122
2	Israel	362	15	Austria	120
3	Italy	350	16	France	104
4	Sweden	243	17	Spain	100
5	Norway	216	18	Moldova	96
6	Ukraine	189	19	Poland	93
7	Belgium	182	20	Switzerland	92
8	Estonia	168	21	Slovenia	78
9	Australia	151	22	Albania	76
10	Czechia	129	23	Portugal	59
11	Lithuania	127	24	Serbia	30
12	Cyprus	126	25	United Kingdom	24
13	Croatia	123	26	Germany	18

Graham: Alright everybody, I can tell you this competition began with 37 countries all vying for the top place. Now only the four acts yet to receive their jury scores could still win. Let’s check it out. The winner can now be Finland, who are currently in first place with 376 points, or it could be Sweden, Norway or Ukraine. One of these will be tonight’s winner. [They’re all very popular these, it could go any way.]

N.B. By now, 1550 jury points would have been allocated to the scoreboard, and there would have been 596 jury points remaining to share among Ukraine, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Since it would have been possible for Finland to get zero jury points, any one of Sweden, Norway or Ukraine could, in theory, have received enough jury points to overtake Finland and win.

Hannah: OK next to receive their points is Ukraine. The juries have awarded you 54 points (taking them to 5th place initially). [That’s a good result for Ukraine, taking them into fifth place with 243 points.]

Green Room shots of the artists representing Finland, Sweden and Norway would have been shown, left to right, across the screen, during the next announcement.

Hannah: So, with Finland, Sweden and Norway left to receive their scores, one of those three will be the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. [Could go any way.]

Graham: Oh very soon, Kalush Orchestra will present the Eurovision trophy to the new winner.

N.B. By now, 1604 jury points would have been allocated to the scoreboard, and there would have been 542 jury points remaining to share among Norway, Sweden and Finland. Since it would have still been possible for Finland to get zero jury points, Sweden or Norway could, in theory, have received enough jury points to overtake Finland and win.

Hannah: Norway, you are next, the juries have awarded you 52 points (taking them to 4th place initially). [Oh, they’ve not done anything like as well with the juries as they did with the public. Still, that takes them to fourth place.]

Green Room shots of the artists representing Finland and Sweden would have been shown, left to right, across the screen, during the next announcement.

Graham: It’s now between Finland, who are still in the lead, and Sweden. Both countries have yet to receive their points from the juries.

N.B. By now, 1656 jury points would have been allocated to the scoreboard, and there would have been 490 jury points remaining to share between Sweden and Finland.

Hannah: Alright everybody, we are about to find out what the juries awarded Sweden. After the juries voted, Sweden gets 340 points (taking them to 1st place initially). We have a new leader. [Oh my goodness, Loreen is now in the lead.]

Green Room shots of the artists representing Sweden and Finland would have been shown, left to right, across the screen, during the next announcement.

Graham: I’m so glad we don’t host this every year; I couldn’t do it. Alright, just one country left. Sweden is now in first place, but hang on, because Finland have yet to receive their score from the national juries. Finland could still get back in the lead and win. Alright, Sweden, Finland are you ready? One of you will be the winner tonight. I can tell you that Finland need a minimum of 208 points to win. [There could still be that many jury points available. This is an exciting moment, it’s down to the wire.] OK, here we go. Finland, the juries have given you 150 points, which is not enough to pass Sweden. We have a winner, Sweden, you’ve won the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Congratulations to Loreen. [It’s Loreen, it’s Loreen, she’s done it again, she won in 2012 with “Euphoria”, and she’s done it again tonight, in 2023, with “Tattoo”. Well done, Loreen.]

The final scoreboard (with Finland’s jury total included) would have looked like this

1	Sweden	583	14	Armenia	122
2	Finland	526	15	Austria	120
3	Israel	362	16	France	104
4	Italy	350	17	Spain	100
5	Norway	268	18	Moldova	96
6	Ukraine	243	19	Poland	93
7	Belgium	182	20	Switzerland	92
8	Estonia	168	21	Slovenia	78
9	Australia	151	22	Albania	76
10	Czechia	129	23	Portugal	59
11	Lithuania	127	24	Serbia	30
12	Cyprus	126	25	United Kingdom	24
13	Croatia	123	26	Germany	18

Here is a summary of the jury totals, in the order they would have been announced:

Finalist	Jury Total
Spain	95
United Kingdom	15
Germany	3
Portugal	43
Austria	104
Serbia	14
Australia	130
Estonia	146
Switzerland	61
Czechia	94
Slovenia	33
Lithuania	81
France	54
Armenia	69
Belgium	127
Cyprus	68
Albania	17
Moldova	20
Poland	12
Croatia	11
Italy	176
Israel	177
Ukraine	54
Norway	52
Sweden	340
Finland	150

At this point individual countries would have been able to announce their own national jury points. Mel Giedroyc would almost certainly have read out the UK's national jury results to UK viewers.

Jury Totals Last to First

What if, after the 38 countries' televote points had been put on the scoreboard (from Ukraine to United Kingdom, followed by Rest of the World), the jury totals had been announced going from the finalist that finished last in the jury vote to the finalist that finished first in the jury vote? Here is the scoreboard again, as it would have appeared after all the televote points had been announced, and Finland had been confirmed as having won the televote.

1	Finland	376	14	France	50
2	Sweden	243	15	Lithuania	46
3	Norway	216	16	Slovenia	45
4	Ukraine	189	17	Czechia	35
5	Israel	185	18	Switzerland	31
6	Italy	174	19	Estonia	22
7	Croatia	112	20	Australia	21
8	Poland	81	21	Serbia	16
9	Moldova	76	22	Austria	16
10	Albania	59	23	Portugal	16
11	Cyprus	58	24	Germany	15
12	Belgium	55	25	United Kingdom	9
13	Armenia	53	26	Spain	5

Afterwards Hannah and Graham would have announced the jury totals for each of the 26 finalists, starting with the bottom 16 from 26th to 11th, in rapid succession, as follows. Once again, I have simulated the procedure by inserting the jury totals alongside the televoting totals into a spreadsheet and sorting it as each jury total was added. This is how I've been able to describe country movements on the scoreboard. To see all the simultaneous movements by multiple counties as each jury total would have been read out, one would need an animated graphic simulation of the scoreboard. Comments that Mel Giedroyc might have said are shown in square brackets.

3 points to Germany (taking them to 21st place initially). [Disappointing for Germany, but that takes them up a few places on that right-hand side of the leader board for now.]
11 points to Croatia (keeping them in 7th place for now). [That’s got to hurt, after they did so well with the public. Now, can they stay on the left-hand side of the leader board?]
12 points to Poland (keeping them in 8th place for now). [Another low score from the juries, after they did quite well with the public. Can Poland stay on the left-hand side? We’ll see.]
14 points to Serbia (taking them to 19th place initially). [That takes Serbia up a few places on that right-hand side of the leader board for now.]
15 points to the United Kingdom (taking them to 20th place initially). [15 points for the UK, Mae hasn’t done much better with the juries. She’ll possibly be a little bit disappointed with that. That takes us (the UK) up to 20th place for now, but we can’t stay there.]
17 points to Albania (keeping them in 10th place for now). [I’m surprised by that; I’d have thought that would have done better with the juries.]
20 points to Moldova (taking them to 8th place initially). [Disappointing for Moldova, after they did reasonably well with the public. It takes them up a place on the left-hand side, but will they end up on the right?]
33 points to Slovenia (taking them to 10th place initially). [There goes Slovenia, across to the left-hand side for now, but I don’t think they can stay there.]
43 points to Portugal (taking them to 12th place initially). [Well done, Portugal, across they go to the left-hand side of the leader board. They can’t stay there, but they can enjoy their moment on the left-hand side.]
52 points to Norway (taking them to 2nd place initially). [Oh, they’ve not done anything like as well with the juries as they did with the public. We won’t be going to Norway next year. That takes them to second place for now, but they can’t stay there.]
54 points to France (taking them to 8th place initially). [54 points for La Zarra, I’m a bit surprised by that, I’d have thought that would have done better with the juries. That takes her to the left-hand side, but can she stay there?]
54 points to Ukraine (keeping them in 4th place for now). [They got considerably less from the juries than from the public. Still, that’s a good result for Ukraine, fourth place for now, with 243 points.]
61 points to Switzerland (taking them to 11th place initially). [A good score for Switzerland there, it takes them to the left-hand side for now.]
68 points to Cyprus (taking them to 7th place initially). [68 for Cyprus, taking them across, 126 points.]
69 points to Armenia (taking them to 9th place initially). [Well done, Armenia, across they go to the left-hand side of the leader board. 122, just behind Croatia.]
81 points to Lithuania (taking them to 7th place initially). [Another country gets a massive boost from the juries; that takes Lithuania to the left-hand side. 127, she looks really pleased.]

The scoreboard would have looked like this after the bottom 16 jury totals were announced (countries which would have already received their jury totals are in bold).

1	Finland	376	14	Switzerland	92
2	Norway	268	15	Slovenia	78
3	Sweden	243	16	Albania	76
4	Ukraine	243	17	Portugal	59
5	Israel	185	18	Belgium	55
6	Italy	174	19	Czechia	35
7	Lithuania	127	20	Serbia	30
8	Cyprus	126	21	United Kingdom	24
9	Croatia	123	22	Estonia	22
10	Armenia	122	23	Australia	21
11	France	104	24	Germany	18
12	Moldova	96	25	Austria	16
13	Poland	93	26	Spain	5

N.B. By now, 607 jury points would have been allocated to the scoreboard, and there would have been 1539 jury points remaining. However, the minimum any one of the top ten countries of the jury vote could have now received would have been 81 jury points, just like Lithuania.

The countries placed 10th to 4th would have been announced at a much slower pace. Hannah and Graham would have (almost certainly) announced the recipients of the top ten jury totals alternately. Each time the applicable country's score would have been updated and repositioned on the scoreboard, and viewers would have seen a brief shot of the applicable artist in the Green Room.

The country that got the 10th highest score, with 94 points is Czechia (taking them to 7th place initially). [Another country which did considerably better with the juries than with the public; they go flying across to the left-hand side.]
The country that got the 9th highest score, with 95 points is Spain (taking them to 13th place initially). [That’s very good for Spain, look at that, suddenly you see, they go flying across to the left-hand side of the leader board. What did we say? Everything can change. Sadly, they can’t stay there; because whatever happens next, they will be pushed back to the right.]
The country that got the 8th highest score, with 104 points is Austria (taking them to 12th place initially). [Well done, Austria, they did considerably better with the juries than with the public. They’re now on the left-hand side of the leader board. Sadly, they can’t stay there, they’ll get pushed back to the right-hand side.]
The country that got the 7th highest score, with 127 points is Belgium (taking them to 6th place initially). [Another country which fared considerably better with the juries than with the public. It’s nowhere near enough to win, but whatever happens, they’ll finish top ten.]
The country that got the 6th highest score, with 130 points is Australia (taking them to 8th place initially). [There you go, the juries come along and change everything; Australia go flying across to the left-hand side of the leader board. Amazing.]
The country that got the 5th highest score, with 146 points is Estonia (taking them to 8th place). [Wow, another country which fared much better with the juries than with the public. There goes Estonia, across to the left-hand side.]
The country that got the 4th highest score, with 150 points is Finland (keeping them in 1st place for now), and Finland are still in the lead. [Well this is interesting, is that enough for Finland to win? We shall see.]

At this point the scoreboard would have looked like this (countries which would have already received their jury totals are in bold):

1	Finland	526	14	Armenia	122
2	Norway	268	15	Austria	120
3	Sweden	243	16	France	104
4	Ukraine	243	17	Spain	100
5	Israel	185	18	Moldova	96
6	Belgium	182	19	Poland	93
7	Italy	174	20	Switzerland	92
8	Estonia	168	21	Slovenia	78
9	Australia	151	22	Albania	76
10	Czechia	129	23	Portugal	59
11	Lithuania	127	24	Serbia	30
12	Cyprus	126	25	United Kingdom	24
13	Croatia	123	26	Germany	18

With just three countries (Sweden, Israel, Italy) still awaiting their jury points, Finland would have been currently in the lead with its final score of 526 points. Hannah or Graham would have said “The winner can now be Finland, who are currently in the lead, or one of the three countries that haven't received their points from the national juries, that's Sweden, Israel or Italy”. Green Room shots of the artists representing Finland, Sweden, Israel and Italy would have been shown in four on-screen windows before continuing.

N.B. By now, 1453 jury points would have been allocated to the scoreboard, and there would have been 693 jury points remaining. However, the minimum Sweden, Israel and Italy could have each received would have been 150 jury points, just like Finland. For Sweden, Israel and Italy to have all finished at least one point below Finland’s final score of 526 points, Sweden would have needed 282 jury points or less, Israel would have needed 340 jury points or less, and Italy would have needed 351 jury points or less. In theory, it would have still been possible for Sweden, Israel and Italy to have stayed below Finland at this stage. Thus, it would have still been theoretically possible for Finland to hold its lead and win. Conversely, if any two of Sweden, Israel and Italy each received 150 jury points, that would have left 393 jury points for the one remaining country, which would have been enough for Sweden, Israel or even Italy to pass Finland and win. Thus, there would still, in theory, have been four possible winners at this stage.

Of course, very few viewers (if any) would have known how many jury points were left for the remaining three countries at this point. Hannah or Graham would have kept the suspense going and continued as follows.

The country that got the 3rd highest score, with 176 points is Italy (taking them to 2nd place initially). [Not enough to top Finland, but a very good second placing at the moment, 350 points.]

Green Room shots of the artists representing Finland, Sweden and Israel would have been shown, left to right, across the screen, before continuing.

So, Finland is still in the lead, but bear in mind that two countries still need to receive their points from the national juries. So, the winner can be either the current leader Finland, or one of the two countries that haven’t received their points from the juries yet, Sweden or Israel.

N.B. By now, 1629 jury points would have been allocated to the scoreboard, and there would have been 517 jury points remaining to share between Sweden and Israel. However, the minimum either of them could have received would have been 176 jury points (just like Italy). If one of those countries received 176 jury points, that would have left 341 jury points for the other country. Sweden would have needed at least 284 jury points to pass Finland (which would have still been possible), whereas Israel would have needed at least 342 jury points to pass Finland (which would have now been impossible). In theory, the possible scenarios would have been: (i) Finland to remain a distinct winner; (ii) either Sweden or Israel to tie with Finland on 526 points (but assuming the televote score takes precedence under tiebreaker rule, Finland would have still won due to having a higher televote score than Sweden and Israel; (iii) Sweden to get enough jury points to pass Finland and win outright.

The country that got the 2nd highest score, with 177 points is Israel (taking them to 2nd place initially). [Well done, Israel, that’s still not enough to pass Finland, but it takes them to second place for now.]

The favourite, according to the juries, is Sweden, but will they get enough points to pass Finland, who are currently in the lead? Sweden now needs at least 284 points to pass Finland. [There could still be that many jury points available, because there were a lot of low scores earlier, and there have been none over 200 yet. This is an exciting moment, it’s down to the wire.] (Green Room shots of the artists representing Finland and Sweden would have been shown, left to right, across the screen.) Sweden, the juries have given you 340 points, putting you in the lead. We have a winner, Sweden, you’ve won the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Congratulations to Loreen.

The final scoreboard (with Sweden’s jury total included) would have looked like this

1	Sweden	583	14	Armenia	122
2	Finland	526	15	Austria	120
3	Israel	362	16	France	104
4	Italy	350	17	Spain	100
5	Norway	268	18	Moldova	96
6	Ukraine	243	19	Poland	93
7	Belgium	182	20	Switzerland	92
8	Estonia	168	21	Slovenia	78
9	Australia	151	22	Albania	76
10	Czechia	129	23	Portugal	59
11	Lithuania	127	24	Serbia	30
12	Cyprus	126	25	United Kingdom	24
13	Croatia	123	26	Germany	18

At this point individual countries would have been able to announce their own national jury points. Mel Giedroyc would almost certainly have read out the UK's national jury results to UK viewers.

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Conclusion

This was the seventh time the two-part voting system, as first introduced in 2016, was used, and the fourth time of announcing the televoting totals starting with the country that received the lowest jury score and finishing with the country that received the highest jury score. Once again, it certainly produced some shocks and surprises, and plenty for keen fans to analyse well after the winner was announced.

Since 2016, there have been two occasions of a country winning outright, despite winning neither half of the voting (Ukraine 2016 and Netherlands 2019), one occasion of the overall winner also winning both the jury vote and public vote (Portugal 2017), and three occasions of the overall winner also winning the public vote, but not the jury vote (Israel 2018, Italy 2021, Ukraine 2022). This was the first time since 2016 that a country has won the jury vote and overall, but not won the public vote. Sooner or later, that had to happen, and it occurred this year. One thing is certain, sometime in the future, another country will win the jury vote and overall, but not win the public vote. Furthermore, it’s possible for a country to win the jury vote by a landslide and another country to win the public vote by a landslide, but for both those countries to do badly in the opposite half of the voting. It's only a matter of time before a country wins one system (jury or televoting) with a record-breaking score for one set of points alone (440 or more) and finishes last with zero points in the other system.

With all this in mind, after seven contests of this two-part voting system being used, I still like this system very much, and feel it's perfectly fair. I hope the EBU continues using this system in 2024 and beyond. The announcement of the televoting totals adds to the excitement of the scoring procedure; in fact, I think it's the highlight of the entire Grand Final. The Rest of the World online vote, as one extra pseudo country in the public vote, turned out to be a worthwhile addition this year. If anything needs changing in the future, I think there should also be a Rest of the World jury vote. Such a jury could be made up of five music industry professionals, nominated from non-participating countries around the world. The members of a Rest of the World jury need not necessarily meet in one place; each member could be given the applicable Jury Show streams online, and the members could submit their ranking over the internet to the EBU at the required time.

Roll on the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest from Sweden. Mark my words, next year's Eurovision Song Contest will tell another story as far as the jury and public results are concerned.

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