The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which produces the Eurovision Song Contest, has announced changes to rules regarding jury voting.
Some 50 per cent of the contest’s results are determined by juries, with the other half decided by public votes. For next year’s contest, the names of jury members must be announced by each national broadcaster in advance of the contest, and each juror’s votes must be revealed immediately after the contest.
These rule changes come in the wake of many allegations of irregularities around voting at the 2013 contest in Sweden.
The Lithuanian website 12points.tv reported in May that individuals claiming to represent the delegation from Azerbaijan attempted to bribe individuals to vote for the country's entry.
Also in May, it was reported Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, demanded a recount of the country's votes after it gave zero points to the Russian entry in the contest final.
Michael Kealy, head of Eurovision delegation for RTÉ, said he expects decisions about RTÉ's selection process of Ireland's entry for Eurovision 2014 will be made "in the next couple of weeks."
