Paris (AFP)
The organizing committee of Eurovision has recalculated the scores of candidates following a "human error", downgrading in particular the French candidate Bilal Hassani in 16th place.
The Eurovision 2019 had already reported a small failure: members of the Belarusian jury had made public their favorites in the semifinals, violating the rules of the contest. They did not have the right to vote for the final, and the organizers took into account, for this country, jury grades based on the votes of neighboring countries.
And it is by trying to correct the votes that figures have mixed, following a "human error," said Wednesday evening the European Union of Radio and Television (EBU) in a statement.
It is finally the candidate of North Macedonia, Tamara Todevska, who arrives first of the vote of the juries, which counts for 50% in the final choice.
With the vote of the public, the Dutch Duncan Laurence loses some points in the final score but remains first, just ahead of the Italian Mahmood.
Sweden, however, goes back to fifth place, overtaking Norway thanks to this blow of fate.
Cyprus and Malta win two places each, going to 13th and 14th place ... for the misfortune of Slovenia and France, who become 15th and 16th.
The EBU and its partners regret that "this mistake was not identified earlier and will review their processes and control systems to prevent this from happening again".
? 2019 AFP