“I hope this match can live up to its promise and once again symbolize peace and dignity for everyone in the world.” These are the first words of winner Nemo (who identifies as non-binary and prefers the pronouns ‘that’ and ‘their’, ed.) after their victory.
A nice summary of the sentiment surrounding this 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. No matter how much the organization tried to keep the event apolitical, political tensions were palpable throughout the evening.
“The Malmö Arena is a besieged castle tonight,” says Eurovision reporter Gianni Paelinck live from Malmö. “There is a huge police presence to keep the many pro-Palestinian demonstrations under control. This was one of the most chaotic, controversial Eurovision Song Contest editions ever.”
Watch – Gianni Paelinck: “The organization underestimated the impact of Israeli participation”
“Pink furby from Switzerland”
Nemo Mettler (24) from Switzerland fulfills the role of favorite with his victory. Mettler is non-binary and sings in ‘The code’ about the search for herself. Nemo performs an intensive, acrobatic act on a rotating disc. As if that wasn’t striking enough, the artist also wore a bright pink feather coat. Commentator Peter Van der Veire spoke of “the pink furby from Switzerland”.
Fun fact: out of sight of the cameras, some people in black suits were running around trying to get the platform on which the singer was balancing to move in the right direction. Nemo’s consistency of tone did not suffer from all that. Of the 37 international professional juries, Nemo received the maximum 12 points no less than 22 times. In total, Nemo received 355 points from the juries.
Watch: Switzerland’s winning act
During the nerve-wracking announcement of the public votes, the battle for the title was ultimately between Croatia and Switzerland. Although the country had been placed in first position by bookmakers for weeks, Croatia ended up in second place.
With 337 points from the televoting and 210 from the professional juries, Croatia’s entry ‘Baby Lasagna’ achieved a total of 547 points. Switzerland just surpassed that with 591 points, of which 236 came from the public. Switzerland takes home the cup for the third time. Although the artist immediately broke that trophy last evening.
Ukrainian duo ‘Jerry Heil and Alyona Alyona’ completes the top three, and owes the high score of 453 points largely to the televoting. With 307 points from the public, the country jumped to third place in one fell swoop.
The final final score of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest is as follows:
Protest against Israel’s participation
The entire Eurovision Song Contest was overshadowed by controversy and protest this year. Israel’s participation was heavily criticized due to the war in Gaza. The Israeli participant was booed both during rehearsals and during the second semi-final. That was no different during the final.
During her performance, twenty-year-old Eden Golan was treated to mixed reactions: there was a combination of whistling, powerful boos and applause. The singer seemed unaffected by the headwind and delivered an almost flawless version of her power ballad ‘Hurricane’.
Israel ultimately took fifth place, with 375 points. Golan received a large part of that – 323 points – from the audience.
According to Eurovision expert André Vermeulen, the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest have escaped the worst. “Had Israel won, that would have been a big problem. Then Israel would have to organize the Eurovision Song Contest. Many countries would then refuse to participate.”
Watch: Israeli singer Eden Golan’s performance
Political statements and boos
Although the organization prohibits political statements, it has proven difficult to stop them. Some participants smuggled symbols onto the stage. Some others called for peace after their performance. The audience also made itself heard every time Israel was mentioned. A small selection of what happened on and around the stage in Malmö during the grand final:
- Ireland’s Bambi Thug shouts “Love will always triumph hate” at the end of their performance. The word “ceasefire” can be read on Bambi’s face in Celtic Ogham script.
- The attentive viewer can see the pattern of a Keffiyeh (a typical Palestinian headgear) and other Palestinian symbols on the nails of the Portuguese Iolanda.
- French participant Slimane shouts “united by music, for love and peace” at the end of his ballad. During the last rehearsal, the singer interrupted his song ‘Mon Amour’ with a plea for fraternization.
- Several jury presidents refuse to award their country’s points live and have to be replaced at the last minute.
- The representative of the Israeli professional jury is booed by the audience as she announces the points, just like Eurovision CEO Martin Osterdahl who opens the scoring.
Watch: Union action, boos and calls for peace: these incidents happened tonight
Demonstrations outside the arena
While the match was underway at the Malmö Arena, pro-Palestinian protests were underway outside. Greta Thunberg, among others, participated in the demonstration and was even briefly arrested by the police. The Swedish police also had to intervene earlier in the day. There was a huge police presence all evening.
Watch: Greta Thunberg is taken away by police during protests
Another protest pancarte from the VRT union
Just like for the second semi-final, VRT 1 viewers were shown a protest pancarte from the VRT trade union ACOD. “This is an industrial action,” it read. “We condemn the violations of human rights by the State of Israel. Moreover, the State of Israel is destroying freedom of the press. That is why we pause the video for a moment. #CeaseFireNow #StopGenocideNow.”
The Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast by the various broadcasters that are members of the European Radio Union (EBU). This also includes RTBF and VRT. Before the start of the final, the VRT socialist union has chosen to show a message of support for the Palestinian people on VRT 1.
Belgian public gives Israel the highest number of points
The points from the Belgian professional jury were awarded this year by RTBF presenter Livia Dushkoff. Our 12 points went to France. Israel received 5 points from the Belgian jury.
More striking are the points of the Belgian audience, which were only announced after the broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest. This shows that the viewer gave 12 points to Israel. Followed by France (10 points) in second place.
This is the distribution of points for the Belgian public:
12 points: Israel
10 points: France
8 points: Croatia
7 points: Ukraine
6 points: Switzerland
5 points: Armenia
4 points: Greece
3 points: Italy
2 points: Ireland
1 punt: Luxemburg
How did Belgium do in the semi-finals?
Our Belgian entry Mustii did not reach the final. Tonight the EBU announced how he scored during the second semi-final. With his ‘Before the party’s over’, the French-speaking candidate achieved thirteenth place. Sixteen countries took part in the second semi-final.
Final without Dutch Joost Klein
It was a final without a Dutch entry. After an incident in which Dutch participant Joost Klein allegedly made a threatening movement towards a camera woman, he was excluded from the Eurovision Song Contest. “The EBU gets Joost Klein” and “Joostice” sounded frustrated on social media.
Result: no fifth candidate during the final. From number four we went straight to number six. And number six was the other controversial act of the evening: the Israeli Eden Golan. Joost Klein’s disqualification resulted in protests inside and outside the venue of the Malmö Arena.
For example, we saw on social media how the audience loudly chanted “Europapa” as the Israeli Golan prepared for its performance.
The Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS also reacted with dismay to the disqualification and believes Klein’s punishment is disproportionate. “Joost is in sack and ashes,” said director Zimmerman. As a result, the broadcaster decided not to award points this year. Make-up artist and internet phenomenon Nikkie de Jager also joined in. De Jager, who previously presented the Eurovision Song Contest himself, was chairman of the Dutch jury this year and would announce the points.
In a video on Instagram she explained why she and the broadcaster withdrew from the points counting. “No matter what I do tonight, I can’t do it right,” she said.
André Vermeulen: “Whoever decided to disqualify Joost Klein will have a bad time”
The most striking interval acts
Like every year, the viewer was treated to some striking acts while waiting for the results.
This year marks exactly 50 years since the Swedish collective ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with “Waterloo”. That could not go unnoticed. The winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 was sung tonight by former Eurovision winners Carola Häggkvist, Conchita Wurst and Charlotte Perrelli.
But an even bigger surprise awaited the audience: the presenters chatted with virtual ABBA avatars via a live connection. The holograms of Agnetha Fältskog (74), Björn Ulvaeus (79), Benny Andersson (77) and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (78) told some anecdotes about their wins fifty years ago. “I remember that Björn stood on the couch because his suit was so tight that he couldn’t sit down,” Agnetha revealed.
Watch: the appearance of the ABBA holograms.
Just before the voting closed, two-time Eurovision Song Contest winner Loreen stood – or rather lay – on the main stage. After her win last year, the Swedish woman personally brought the Eurovision Song Contest to Malmö.
Like a kind of bionic woman, she performed a medley of her new song “Forever” tonight and a new version of her 2023 winning song “Tattoo”. Her iconic long nails could not be missed.
Watch: Loreen’s performance.
