MALMO, Sweden (Reuters) – Swiss artist Nemo won the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, beating 24 rivals with the song “The Code”, while Israel’s Eden Golan finished fifth despite calls for a boycott over the war in Gaza.
The winner of the annual music competition was decided by votes from television audiences in Europe and around the world in combination with juries of music professionals in each participating country.
Each jury awarded points to their 10 most favoured songs, with a maximum of 12 points going to their top choice. Votes by viewers were converted to the same scale so that each country could award a maximum of 24 points to a single act.
WHO WERE THE TOP 5 IN THE FINAL?
1. Switzerland: Nemo with 591 points
2. Croatia: Baby Lasagna with 547 points
3. Ukraine: Teresa & Maria with 453 points
4. France: Slimane with 445 points
5. Israel: Eden Golan with 375 points
HOW DID THE EXPERT VOTE COMPARE TO THOSE OF VIEWERS?
The jury votes often deviate sharply from those of viewers.
Music professionals ranked Switzerland as the number one act with 365 points, ahead of France with 218 points. Israel was only 12th with 52 points.
The popular vote ranked Croatia first with 337 points, ahead of Israel with 323 points and Ukraine in third with 307 points. France came fourth with 227 points while overall winner Switzerland was fifth with 226.
HOW MANY PROFESSIONAL JURIES AWARDED 12 POINTS TO NEMO?
In total 22 juries gave a full score to Switzerland’s Nemo.
DID ANY PROFESSIONAL JURIES AWARD ISRAEL 12 POINTS?
None of the national juries gave 12 points to Eden Golan and her song “Hurricane”.
IN HOW MANY COUNTRIES DID ISRAEL WIN THE POPULAR VOTE?
Israel won the popular vote in 15 countries, including in Britain, France and Germany as well as in the “rest-of-the-world” category, more than any other contestant.
Croatia won the popular vote of nine nations.
DID NEMO WIN THE POPULAR VOTE IN ANY COUNTRY?
Only viewers in Ukraine awarded Switzerland’s Nemo the full 12 points.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Malmo and Louise Rasmussen in Copenhagen; writing by Terje Solsvik)
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