Sweden is once again hosting the big Eurovision song contest. As the grand final, which will take place on May 11 in Malmö, is fast approaching, here is what you need to know about this 68th edition under high security tension.
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At course of This month of may, attention East scope on Malmo, in Sweden, For the 2024 edition of Eurovision, the final of which takes place on Saturday May 11. SO, Who go replace Loreen, there representative of there Sweden Who has win THE competition of there song the year last ? Favorites emerged, but THE suspense remains total. EIn the meantime, here’s what you need to know about this 68th edition of Eurovision.
Controversies surrounding Israel’s qualification for the final
Rhinestones and glitter or pro-Palestinian demonstrations and slogans? The 2024 edition of Eurovision opens in Malmö, southern Sweden, as the war in Gaza continues. In question, the participation, then recently, the qualification for the final of Israel in the competition which this year brings together 37 countries. The country qualified on Thursday evening May 9 for the final on Saturday after nearly 12,000 people, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, demonstrated against its participation. LThe demonstrators criticize the organizer for not not having excluded Israel, whileRussia was expelled when it attacked Ukraine. German Culture Minister Claudia Roth described Friday May 10 as “unacceptable“protests and calls for boycotts against Israel.
Reinforced security measures
In the city decorated with multicolored pennants, several thousand people are expected at pro-Palestinian rallies throughout the week. “I never thought we would become a global political event” of this magnitude, confides Karin Karlsson, responsible for Eurovision for the city of Malmö.
Inside the Malmö Arena, the organization banned any flags other than those of the participants as well as any banners with political messages, two rules in force for a long time. “I’m sure someone will manage to smuggle in a Palestinian flag and wave it, but it’s not certain if it will be visible on television“, however, hopes Anders Püschel who demonstrated on May 9, the date of Israel’s entry into the competition.
Security has been reinforced both in the competition hall and in the rest of the city, home to Sweden’s largest community of Palestinian origin. Police officers from Norway and Denmark will help their Swedish colleagues, who will be more heavily armed than usual. And the huge stage of the Malmö Arena will be surrounded by security guards. The demonstrations will be very supervised and the pre-trial detention cells have been emptied as a precaution and the detainees sent elsewhere in Sweden.
New competition rules
THE producer of the two semi-finals And of there final East Christer Bjorkman. He mentions to 20 minutes THE new regulations established this year. Among them, the opening of the vote of the there first song And No After all of the artists. According to the producer, that go train A result more fair, mostly For those Who begin. Before this change, the public had to wait until all the performances had passed before voting by telephone or SMS, which represented an advantage for the last delegations to perform on stage, fresher in the spectators’ memories. This change should favor “favorite” votes, which the French artist, Slimane, will be able to benefit from with his ballad, one of the few this year.
Sweden, host country and 7 times winner
With seven victories to its credit, Sweden remains the undisputed champion country of Eurovision. The show achieves the largest audience of the year in Sweden. Behind the program is producer Karin Gunnarsson. The latter received more than 2,600 songs in 2024. The reputation of the show is such that all of Sweden’s music industry wants to participate. She explains that “success is that we work very closely with the music industry”. Some composers have even become specialists in the show, like Thomas Gustafsson, who wrote around a hundred songs for the preselections in Sweden and in different European countries.
France, Israel, Croatia and Switzerland among the favorites
Good news for Slimane, since France, represented this year by the singer, is part of this Top 10 favorites for the competition. But according to bettors, one of the artists with the best chance of winning this 2024 edition of Eurovision is Swiss and is called Nemo.
The video for his song The Code has been viewed over 4 million times on the Eurovision YouTube channel.
Another big favorite of bookmakers, Eden Golan, the representative of Israel. H8th before her performance in the semi-final on Thursday evening, the singer made a spectacular jump among all the bookmakers. She is only ahead of Baby Lasagna, the Croatian candidate, who has been at the top of the ranking for several weeks. However, she passed Nemo, the singer defending the colors of Switzerland. But as the hours that separate us from the final diminish, these places in the ranking only vary.