Yesterday, RTVE (Radio y Televisión Española) released the first images of what the stage for Spain’s new national final, Benidorm Fest, will look like in a week’s time.

Today, the organising team have updated us on how the voting system for the new show will work. Fair to say, Eurostats nerds, you might want to get your pens and paper out for this one!

As was announced in a press conference last Friday, hosted by Spanish Head of Delegation Eva Mora, the voting for each show will be split into four categories, weighted as follows:

• National Jury (30%)
  • The panel will consist of 5 members, 3 from Spain and 2 from abroad. The 3 from Spain will make up the “national jury”.
  • In the semi-finals, each member will give 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5 and 4 points to each of the seven songs based on their rankings, adding up to a total of 156 points.
  • In the final, each member will give 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 and 2 points to each of the eight songs based on their rankings, adding up to a total of 162 points.
• International Jury (20%)
  • The panel will consist of 5 members, 3 from Spain and 2 from abroad. The 2 from abroad will make up the “international jury”.
  • In the semi-finals, each member will give 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5 and 4 points to each of the seven songs based on their rankings, adding up to a total of 104 points.
  • In the final, each member will give 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 and 2 points to each of the eight songs based on their rankings, adding up to a total of 108 points.
• Demoscopic Jury (25%)
  • This jury, inspired by Sanremo, will be selected by an independent committee at RTVE, and will consist of 350 members, said to represent the demographics and diversity of Spain.
  • In the semi-finals, each member will give 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5 and 4 points to each of the seven songs based on their rankings. The total scores will then be made into a ranking, where the most voted song will get 30 points, the second most voted 25, then 20, 18, 15, 12, and the least voted song will get 10 points, making this a total of 130 points.
  • In the final, each member will give 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 and 2 points to each of the eight songs based on their rankings. The total scores will then be made into a ranking, where the most voted song will get 30 points, the second most voted 25, then 20, 18, 15, 12, 10, and the least voted song will get 5 points, making this a total of 135 points.
• Televote (25%)
  • In the semi-finals, the song that received the most televotes will receive 30 points, the second placed one will receive 25 points, then 20, 18, 15, 12, and the least voted song will get 10 points, making this a total of 130 points.
  • In the final, the song that received the most televotes will receive 30 points, the second placed one will receive 25 points, then 20, 18, 15, 12, 10, and the least voted song will get 5 points, making this a total of 135 points.

The total number of points distributed in the two semi-finals will add up to 520 (156+104+130+130), while those in the final will add up to 540 (162+108+135+135).

The top 4 from each semi-final will qualify for the final on Saturday, with the winner of that taking Spain’s ticket to Turin.

A tiebreaker would only be used to resolve 4th and 5th places in the semi-finals, as the boundary for qualification to the final, and for 1st and 2nd place in the final. In this scenario, the higher place would go to the act who scored the most from the 50% of votes given by the demoscopic jury and televote. If the tie persists, the result will be decided by who scored the most from the 50% of votes given by the national and international juries. If the tie still persists, the winner will be decided on countback of the number of 12, 10, 8 etc. points given by the 350-member demoscopic jury.

RTVE also announced that in the case of a technical fault with either the televote or the demoscopic jury, the result would be solely decided by the national and international juries.

The broadcaster has, no doubt, put every precaution in place so as not to create another potential Objetivo Eurovisión, the former Spanish national final whose 2017 edition ended with resounding boos from the audience and a jury member being assaulted live on air over a controversial tiebreaker.

Finally, they reminded us that, should an act test positive for Covid-19 after their first rehearsal, the recording of that will be used as their performance. If they test positive before rehearsals and can’t attend, either their music video or the studio version of the song played over a photo montage will be used instead.

The first semi-final of Benidorm Fest will start at 22:40 CET on Wednesday 26 January 2022, with the second the following day, and the final on the Saturday.

If you haven’t already, you can listen to all the entires here, and vote for your favourites in our poll!

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