One of the issues that raised the most comments at Benidorm Fest 2022 was the debate on whether the jury had too much weight in their votes with respect to the tastes of the public when choosing the representative of Spain in Eurovision.
In fact, it was the support of the professionals that gave Chanel the victory, before the favorites of the audience, more prone to Rigoberta Bandini and Tanxugueiras.
The matter reached Congress before the Spanish-Cuban finally achieved a third place in Turin.
This year, RTVE, organizer of the contest, has already explained what the voting system will be, both in the two semifinals (Tuesday and Thursday) and in the final of the 2023 edition, which is held from January 31 to 4. February in the city of Alicante and which, once again, serves as a Spanish pre-selection for the European song festival.
More information
When and where to see the semifinals and the final of the Benidorm Fest 2023
The evaluation of the professional jury will be worth 50% in the three galas.
The other half will fall on the public vote, although in this case it will be divided into two: 25% will correspond to the demoscopic jury —a statistical selection of 350 people representing the Spanish population— and 25% will depend on televoting, that is, of the messages and phone calls made by the viewers of each of the live galas.
In 2022, the common professional past of the singer, actress and dancer Chanel and a member of the jury, the choreographer Miryam Benedited, generated controversy among part of the audience.
In this edition, the Benidorm Fest tries to avoid such suspicions by approaching the pre-selection model of other countries.
For this reason, it includes more international than national members in the panel of experts.
There are a total of eight: five foreigners and three Spaniards.
All of them will stay away from the media during the days prior to the voting and will not participate in the numerous meetings with the public and press conferences that RTVE has organized throughout the week of the Benidorm Fest.
The singer and actress Nina will be the spokesperson for the Benidorm Fest 2023 jury.Gtresonline
The singer and actress Nina will be the spokesperson for this jury.
Next to her will be Irene Valiente, director of
El último lugar
, a Radio 3 program specialized in urban music, and Juan José Santana, a musical composer connected for years with the Eurovision candidacies of various countries.
As for the five international professionals, there are Christer Björkman, member of the Eurovision production team and head of Melodifestivalen —the successful Swedish Eurovision pre-selection— between 2002-2021;
Tali Eshkoli, head of the Israeli delegation to the European song contest;
Nicola Caligiore, former head of the Italian delegation;
Katrina Leskanich, leader of the group Katrina & the Waves, with which she won Eurovision in 1997;
and William Lee Adams, BBC presenter and founder of wiwibloggs, a reference medium specializing in Eurovision.
Agoney, Alice Wonder, Aritz Aren, Fusa Nocta, Megara, Meler, Sharonne, Sofía Martín and Twin Melody will participate in the first semifinal, on Tuesday, January 31.
Alfred García, Blanca Paloma, E'Femme, Famous, José Otero, Karmento, Rakky Ripper, Siderland and Vicco will do so in the second, which will take place on Thursday, February 2.
Some of them passed very briefly this Sunday on the orange carpet of RTVE, which has served as the starting signal for the festival, having to go to night rehearsals at the Palau d'Esports L'Illa in Benidorm, venue of the contest.
[Here you can consult the profiles of all of them].
The three galas will be presented by Mónica Naranjo, Rodrigo Vázquez and Inés Hernand.
How the votes will be divided
Nine artists will participate in each of the two semifinals and only four of them will advance to the final.
To decide it, 912 points will be distributed.
The half corresponding to the professional jury (456 points) will be divided, each of its eight members distributing 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 points to the applicants.
The demoscopic jury will award its 25% (228 points) giving 40, 35, 30, 28, 25, 22, 20, 15 and 13 points to the singers.
And the televote will give its 228 points in the same way: 40 to the most supported artist with calls and messages, 35 to the second and so on until delivering the remaining 30, 28, 25, 22, 20, 15 and 13 points.
Voting mechanics of the Benidorm Fest 2023.RTVE
The system in the final, on Saturday, February 4, will be the same, but the number of points will be less as there are only eight proposals left in contention.
It will be 864 points.
The eight professional votes will be divided into eight bands: 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 and 2 until distributing their 432 points.
The demoscopic jury vote (216 points) will do so in 40, 35, 30, 28, 25, 22, 20 and 16 points.
And the same will happen with the televote: 40 points for the most voted, 35 for the second and so on until completing 30, 28, 25, 22, 20 and 16.
And if by adding 50% of the vote of the panel of experts and 50% of the popular vote, a tie is generated?
The official bases published by RTVE clarify that in the semifinals only ties will be resolved up to fourth place, which is the cutoff to access the final.
And in the final, a tie will only be resolved if it affects the first place, being the winner and Spanish representative to Eurovision.
All other ties will not be broken.
In the event of a tie in the sum of the votes of the jury and the public, the proposal that receives the best score from the professional jury will be the winner.
There is another assumption in which the eight experts will have more weight in the final decision.
In the event that a technical failure during the live galas prevents the public from collecting the vote, the winner will be decided with the points of the professional jury.
If only one of the two popular votes fails (the demoscopic jury or the televote), the option that has not failed will represent 50% of the public's points.
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