ROME (Reuters) – Italian public broadcaster RAI apologised on Friday for mistakenly revealing domestic voting results for the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, blaming it on a technical glitch.
The Eurovision Song Contest is the world’s biggest live music event, with 37 nations participating in this year’s edition in Malmo, Sweden, and 26 of them chasing a win in the grand final on Saturday night.
In the closing credits of Thursday’s show, RAI displayed what it called provisional voting results, indicating that Israeli contestant Eden Golan had been the Italians’ favourite with over 39%.
Eurovision rules say that such information cannot be published before the grand final.
“It was a technical hitch that led to the erroneous display in the graphics of some data – entirely partial – of the Italian national vote,” RAI said in a statement, adding that it had apologised to Eurovision organisers.
The mishap has caused uproar on social media, amid controversy over Israel’s participation in the contest and its securing of a spot in the final.
Eurovision organisers have resisted calls to exclude Israel over its military campaign in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, arguing that the competition is a non-political event.
(Reporting by Matteo Negri; Editing by Alvise Armellini and Ros Russell)
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