The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has explained why some countries had only six jury members at Eurovision 2026.
This comes after it was revealed that not all countries had the full seven jury members, which was a new rule for this year’s contest.
According to a report by ESC Portugal, Czechia, Cyprus, Malta and Luxembourg did not all have seven jurors.
Czechia, Cyprus and Malta each had six jurors for both the Second Semi-Final and the Grand Final. In Luxembourg, all seven jurors took part in the semi-final, but only six votes were counted in the Grand Final.
The EBU said this was not because anyone broke the rules or was disqualified. Instead, some jurors were unable to take part for personal or last-minute reasons.
Under the 2026 rules, broadcasters did not have to appoint backup jurors. This means if someone could not take part, they were not replaced. 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.”
For Eurovision 2026 in Vienna, juries were increased from five to seven members as part of changes to make voting fairer and more transparent.
The new system also brought in jurors from a wider range of backgrounds and aimed to make juries more diverse. The final result was still decided by a 50/50 split between the jury and the public, crowning Dara’s Bangaranga the winner for Bulgaria.
The EBU confirmed that having six-member juries in some countries was allowed under the rules and did not affect the results.
Unlike in past years, where problems with voting meant some jury scores were removed, the smaller juries in 2026 were still counted as valid.
Source: ESC Portugal
